Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning, village church east is good to see you this morning. Welcome to all of you that are in house. Now it's time to stop talking so you can find your seats. I know, I know I'm very demanding. It's father's day. I'm allowed to be demanding. Good morning, everybody. It's good to see you. Uh, those of you that are at home, welcome to our service. My name is Craig gyrus on the lead pastor here at village church. He said, at least for now. All right. Yeah. I don't know if you can hear me at home, but I'm sure nobody in here can a happy father's day. This is a very special day, right? Happy father's day. And so for all you dads out there, we got, uh, dad's root beer. And so here it is right here. Dad's root beer, so good stuff. Yes. Good stuff.
Speaker 0 00:00:55 And we got a, a jar of nuts for ya. I'm not sure what that stands for, but this is yours for the day. So you can pick these up. Actually, we encourage you to drink your root beer during the service. If you'd like to do that, Michael is somewhere over there and he would be glad to go and run and get you a couple of bottles if you would like to, uh, to enjoy those. But thank you ladies for doing these wonderful little gifts for us. Um, VCE is nuts for you. Happy father's day. That's great. So if you're at home, look what you're missing, but uh, maybe, maybe next week. It's good to see you all this morning. I have a couple of quick announcements for you as we begin our service, uh, today. Uh, obviously the first one is happy father's day. Uh, so thank you for, uh, all you dads and all that.
Speaker 0 00:01:41 You do faithfully and continually to bless our, uh, our homes and our families. We have, uh, we actually have a lot to talk about today regarding dads. It's one of my favorite topics to cover. Uh, I remember a couple of weeks ago, I said, uh, the dads might get a kick in the pants today. So maybe that has something to do with some dads that are not here, but I'll go easy on you. I'll go easy on, you know, it's a great, it's a great message. I've been looking forward to sharing God's word regarding fathers and husbands. Uh, today the second announcement I have for you is if you haven't checked out our thinking it through podcast, uh, we would love for you to check this out. It is a wonderful podcast and actually I just, uh, I just uploaded one for dads. So if you want to check that out today, you can go to our website, VCE VC, east.org, and you can find it there.
Speaker 0 00:02:33 Or if you subscribe, which would be really cool. But if you subscribe, they'll automatically get dumped into your phones or into your, uh, uh, machines that whatever machines you use to listen to podcasts on, and you'll just get them automatically every single week. But I anyway to check out thinking it through, there's a special one for dads on there. Uh, today finally, the last thing is we have a baptism coming up, which is extremely exciting for us. Uh, for those of you that have been watching us, uh, during COVID online, uh, you know, that we've had to do some finagling, be a little creative, we've baptized. Some people like right here in a pool, and those were amazing times, but we are back to the pool at fountain view. So we are going to the public pool. And if you've never experienced a baptism at, at VC east, uh, you'll definitely want to be here.
Speaker 0 00:03:26 We have that scheduled for July the fourth. So I know that's a difficult day for some folks we're going to try and stream it. If we can, we've got some kinks to work out, uh, namely running electrical wires into the pool, but we are going to try and work out those kinks so that you can watch it at home as well. But for all of you that can attend July 4th is going to be one amazing day. If you'd like to get baptized, or maybe you're thinking of yourself, I'd just like to figure out a little bit more what this baptism is. Uh, I have a class planned this week at my house on Tuesday night. So if you come to my house, we'll sit out on the back porch and I'm going to talk through baptism. If you're at all interested, if you know somebody that might be interested, if you're thinking of yourself, I waited long enough.
Speaker 0 00:04:12 I want to be baptized. Then you should be there at that class. All the information is online. It's at my house at six 30. Uh, we'll give you directions and make sure you know how to get there, but it'll be a wonderful time of, um, of just talking through the issue of baptism, why we should be baptized and why Jesus commands us to be baptized actually. Uh, and we go through all of those different things and who can be baptized. So I encourage you to be at that, uh, that, uh, meeting on Tuesday night, two days. Uh, but July 4th is going to be a great day. So, uh, so we're gearing up for that as well. Well, we are, uh, we're going to join our hearts. We're going to start singing. We're going to praise the Lord this morning. Um, my encouragement to you is to just kind of take all of the issues from this past week.
Speaker 0 00:04:58 All of the things that have grabbed your attention and all of the things that occupy your mind. My, I had, I had three car issues, uh, this week and it's kind of like, oh, that's all I can think about this morning, remove those and spend some time with the Lord. This is our moment to refocus our attention on what really matters. So all distractions aside, squirrel all of those distractions aside, let's focus on the Lord, give him our full attention this morning. Every word we sing, every word we receive from him. Uh, let's do it as, uh, as if we're going to anticipate God has something for us today, whether you're a man or you're a woman that God would speak to us and that we would be able to speak and sing and praise him together this morning. Let's give him this time in prayer father, thank you for calling us together.
Speaker 0 00:05:51 Thank you for Sunday. When we can set those things aside, that would occupy our minds and our hearts and all good things all, but, but so many times distracted. So many times just stuff that tries to pull the priorities out of our lives and the priority. Lord is you. You are at the center, love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul strength, mind. So father, this morning, I pray that we would be able to do that, that you would visit us in a way that we would be unmistakably visited this morning, that we would hear what you would have to say to us and father, that you would listen to what we have to say as we sing these amazing words and dedicate ourselves again to center our lives about around what really matters. May you be pleased with us as we lift our voice and praise your incredible name this morning, I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Please stand
Speaker 2 00:10:43 Well, good morning village church east. My name is Jonathan Thomas and I am one of the worship leaders here at village church.
Speaker 1 00:10:51 This next song that we're going to be doing is called follow you anywhere. And as Craig said already, and we all know, at least I hope we know it's father's day. And I just want to read the chorus of this song. And this is for all the men as well as the women that's okay, but specifically for the men, you are the refuge I run to you are the fire that leads me through the night. I'll follow you anywhere. There's a million reasons to trust you. Nothing to fear for you are by my side, I'll follow you anywhere. And this song is just a great representation for all of us, all of the men and women to turn our eyes to Jesus, right? And follow Jesus. So as we sing that out, um, just imagine yourself looking to Jesus. You are the refuge I run to. Let's sing it. <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:16:37 we have a scripture reading this morning from the book of Colossians chapter two, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith, in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with him having forgiven us, all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
Speaker 1 00:17:41 When Jesus see is he is a by, in dredged, they laid him down. <inaudible> sign <inaudible> shell. Oh, Jesus. Seek it out with us this morning. Praise the Lord. Our God <inaudible> Lord Jesus. We just praise you this morning. God, we praise the name of the Lord. Our God, his name is Jesus. Y'all we go, we look to the future when we will praise your name forever more. And we are so grateful. We're so hopeful. God, let remind us to look to you this morning. As Cray comes up, open our hearts. God, let your holy spirit work in our hearts to transform us into being more like you, Jesus, that we may lead. Well, then we may follow you well, and we pray this all in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. You may be seated.
Speaker 0 00:23:02 Sorry. Sorry. Just enjoying my dad's roof here and hoping it doesn't fall from there. Well, it is, uh, it's exciting to be able to share this father's day with you. Uh, it's uh, an exciting day for us as we talk about dads and fathers and maybe do a little corrective reasoning, corrective understanding from God's word of what it means to be a man, a real father, a real husband, a real man. Now, when I say, what is a real man? What is, what is it like if I look at you and I say, give me the description of a real man. All right. So you're thinking like you, you wives, you automatically, while as my husband, I just got to think of that right away. Right. And the laughing begins so that can't possibly be it. All right. So here's some ideas on what a real man looks like.
Speaker 0 00:23:56 Now, if I say what's a real man, maybe this is what you think about this. Of course, when I was growing up, this was a real man. Um, yeah, I love it. Was that a great movie carrying a, the helicopter machine gun and just doing away with the bad guys. Maybe that's not you though. Maybe you're thinking that's not my idea of a real man. This is my idea of a real man. Maybe it's like a John Travolta as a cowboy. Maybe that's your idea of, but maybe you're really progressive. And maybe this is your idea of a real man. This could be it. I don't know. I've never seen such an individual fit into so many slim suits in my entire life, but maybe Jimmy, Fallon's your kind of guy and maybe you're extremely progressive or, and you like this kind of guy. I don't know whatever you think about what a real man looks like.
Speaker 0 00:24:46 Maybe one of these guys is that when I was growing up, do you remember the real man? That would be like the Brawny guy on the paper towel or the Marlboro man and, or maybe, maybe a real man would be like the one that had a job so that he would be financially successful in set for the rest of his life. There was a Washington post article a few years ago that declared women prefer confident men. I don't know if that's still today, but uh, this is, uh, this is what, uh, what it, what it said. Now you're going to enjoy these statistics. If you're a woman and you're thinking of yourself, I know what I want in a man. All right. So this is, this might be, this might shine for you. All right. Confident men seventy-five percent of women said their ideal man buys his grooming products at a grocery store and not a salon.
Speaker 0 00:25:34 I don't know what that means, but take it as it is 72% of women said that their ideal man spends his free time home doing projects. All right? So that might be you. I heard some amens there. 41% of women said their ideal man spends his time watching sports. Interesting. 47% of women said their ideal man spends his money on electronics compared to 9% who said they prefer his man, their men, uh, her man to wear and buy designer clothes, spend their money on designer clothes. I looked up some ideas of what it means to be a real man. So I typed in, in Google, real men in SAWA, come up. Don't do that. All right. You, that is a bad idea. So don't do that. I did. However, came up with some really interesting ideas. Uh, some I can't tell you about, but here's some things real men wear kilts, real men cook real where real men wear pink.
Speaker 0 00:26:33 T-shirts real, men's talk and do poetry. Real men wear star Trek outfits. That was one of my favorite ones. Have you ever heard the phrase, real men eat quiche? I've heard that right. And have you heard that that actually came from Bruce Bernstein's book in 1982. He named it real men. Don't eat quiche. It's a guide book to all that is truly masculine. It's probably an on Amazon for two bucks. You can download that if you'd like to, uh, his point in that in saying real men don't eat quiche was don't let somebody else determine who you should be. If you're a real man, don't let somebody else pave the path for you pave your own way. That's what the book was all about. Go against the grain. In other words, men eat, even though it says real men, don't eat quiche, be your own person.
Speaker 0 00:27:26 The truth of the matter is real men and real women are created to be different. I know I'm glad you're sitting down, uh, in our culture today that has become quite the passe thing to say, women and men. There's nothing different between us, but I have to tell you, women and men, there's a whole lot of things between us, a whole lot of differences between us and you gotta be living in some sort of a Lala land to think that there's no difference between between the male and the female. They have different values, different emotional, depth, depth, different things are important to them. I actually had a clip that I wanted to play right now, and I'm not going to be able to do it because we couldn't figure out how to do it. But if you've ever heard a red green, uh, you never heard a red green that you can Google online and you should be safe, no guarantees.
Speaker 0 00:28:13 But if you Google red green online, one of my favorite marriage counselors is red, green you'll you'll enjoy him, man. You are so important to this world. God has created men to be men. We are given roles. We are given differences. We are given. We are the, the things that make us different from women are not meant to be hidden. They're not meant to be, uh, to be set aside. They're not meant to be ignored. They're meant to be celebrated. We are not created the same on purpose. When God created Adam, he was incomplete without the woman. The male female relationship is meant to be a completion kind of relationship where one fills in the gaps of the other men. You do have a unique role that only you can play in this world. Listen. And if you're a father, there's no other dad in your kid's life.
Speaker 0 00:29:14 You're it. You have the unique role of impacting these little lives for Jesus Christ. To hear more about that. Again, I send you back to my podcast. I say a little bit about that in the podcast. You can download that at another time, okay? There's nothing with so much potential to impact this world as a man devoted to God. I'll say that one more time. There's no other impact. This world can have as, as influential, as potentially, uh, powerful as a male devoted to God, a man devoted to God, your family needs you. Your children need you. Your wife needs you. Your siblings need you. Your world needs you. You are meant to fulfill this role. So what I did this morning is I found three real men in the Bible. These three guys made an impact in my life when I was a real young individual.
Speaker 0 00:30:13 And I thought, I want to give you an example this morning of three guys, three real men in scripture. And I want to pick out a couple of different ways that they stood up and they were real men when they needed to. I have to tell you, before we go into this, this kind of will fly into the face of modern culture. It's amazing to me, how culture continues to change. So I go on a rollercoaster, it goes up, it goes down and we feel like we're always chasing it. But I want to tell you this morning, this may, this message may fly in the face of some of the things we cure in our culture. It's simply goes against our nature, our fallen nature, to see some of the differences God has placed between males and females. From the old Testament to the new Testament, the Bible highlights the roles of men and the roles of women.
Speaker 0 00:31:04 Both are essential to this world. Both are essential. Both are gifts from God and both are meant to be not hidden, not, not ignored. Uh, not pretending they're not there, but both are meant to be celebrated in Jesus' day. He fought the same battle that we face today. Did you know that culture always will seek to make the roles blurred. It's always happened in Jesus' day. The male was the one that was higher than the female. Did you know this? The male got all of the preference and the male got all of the preferential treatment. The male was the one that was, that was above the women. In fact, there was a law on the Roman books called Patriot poets protested. Now I know I'm not saying that, right? So if you're a Latin major, please forgive me. But, but uh, if you interpret those two words, it literally means a law on the Roman books that said the father's power.
Speaker 0 00:32:06 The father had power in the Roman world. It was given to them and not to anyone else. The father had power that no one else could wield. He had property rights. He had, he had familial rights. He had, he had rights over his children and over his property and over his wife, he was the highest in society. He could use his power for collateral. He could use his children for collateral. If he was in debt, he could use his wife for collateral. They could be traded. They could be sold. They could even be killed if he, if he didn't like them anymore. It was the, it was the law in the Roman books called the father's power Seneca. One of the writers of Jesus' day, a contemporary of the apostle Paul described Roman policy with regards to unwanted animals. Listen to this. If you didn't like your animal, this is what a father, this kind of power father could have. Quote, we slaughter a fierce ox. We strangle a mad dog. We plunge a knife into a sick cow, children born weak or deformed. We drown.
Speaker 0 00:33:11 And the father got the final say on that. Culture has always sought to influence people by highlighting or pushing one gender over the other gender. It's always been this way. It's just in our world today in our culture today, the gender that is pushed above is the female gender. If you didn't know that, then welcome to 2021 culture today has simply switched the priorities. In 2000, I read a, a magazine article called the hottest jobs of the future. This is a year or two thousands. 20 years ago, time magazine, many jobs were listed as rising. Some jobs were listed as becoming obsolete, but I was surprised to see one of the jobs listed was fatherhood fatherhood. It said was listed as one of the occupations that would disappear in the next century, along with a bunch of other jobs. Fast forward to an article I read in May, 2016 from a very popular magazine.
Speaker 0 00:34:14 Here's what it said. Quotes a fantastic side effect of lesbian couples. Having their own children is that with no, Y chromosome involved couples are guaranteed a guaranteed to have little baby girls. So perhaps it's only a matter of time before men become obsolete, get it their peracetic nature. Finally exposed for all to see and their legacy. Finally, coming to an end, unquote, God does not want us to take our cues for how men and women operate from a culture that can't figure out a moral center. So it's always been this way. Culture will say, this person is important because they've whatever been neglected. Haven't been able to vote, whatever it is, but they'll always, always seek to move one gender over the other, because when they can do that, they get the genders to disagree. They can create contention. And I got to tell you, they can create this, this tension in relationships. And I have to tell you, the only person that's interested in destroying relationships, doesn't actually live in culture, but, but seeks to destroy culture by being Elian, going around, seeking whom he may destroy.
Speaker 0 00:35:26 So this morning, I want to take four, three guys and give you four ways. They stood out as men in their culture. Let's take our cue from God's word. Number one, real men. Don't let circumstances define them. Real men. Don't let circumstances define them in this culture. Today. It is upside down. We are taught that our culture, that our failures in our culture teaches us. Our failures should define us. Now you're probably thinking yourself, Craig, I've never heard that before. Let me give you a few things that you may have missed along the way. They'll say that you're the sum of your background. Whatever you grew up with is what will impact your life today. And in the future, you are the way you are because somebody else made you that way. Your past has influenced your future because you were born in a certain circumstance.
Speaker 0 00:36:21 You're never expected and you're never able to rise beyond it. This is what our culture is, teaching us. Now they may word it a bunch of different ways, but culture will teach us that whatever your past is, will define your future. That is anti-biblical. God tells us that when he makes something new, he makes something new. The old is done away. Behold, the new has come. That's actually a Bible verse. So when we look at scripture, God tells us your circumstances do not influence who you are in the future. That's why we had pastor Paul in here to kick off this series of potential when he came in, because I wanted to tell, tell you about the potential of a life changed by God. So when Paul came to comes up and pastor Paul comes up and he says, you know, I was this drunk.
Speaker 0 00:37:15 I was selling drugs. I was all these things that he shared with us. It was a powerful kickoff for the series because it helped us realize we are not the sum of our past experiences. God can use those past experiences to redeem our lives. And through us redeem others, we can be, we can look at those things and not brag on them, not be ashamed of them. Sure. We will feel great regret and guilt because of them. But ultimately we are, we are excited about the future because God makes all things new. Can you imagine what the apostle Paul would be like if he let his past define him? The apostle Paul killed people in the church for a living before he was saved. Before he came to know the Lord, he said he was zealous for it. Have you ever been zealous for something?
Speaker 0 00:38:06 I mean, it's literally the first thing you think about when you get up in the morning. It's the last thing you think about before you get up at night, before you go to bed at night, Paul was zealous for killing Christians. Yes, but God changed him. And now he has to visit the churches of the people that he persecuted. How difficult do you think that was for the apostle Paul? He wrote a lot of books in the new Testament. How difficult do you think that was for the possible, he had to go to the disciples of Jesus and help them understand some of the new revelations that he was receiving from God. How difficult do you think that was for the apostle Paul? You see the point is your past. Doesn't define you, your failures do not define you. Whatever house you grew up in, whatever damage they did to you does not define what God can do for you.
Speaker 0 00:38:54 And through you in the future. Real men know this. We don't grow with a victim mentality. It is simply not biblical. If you grew up thinking you've you you've, you've been damaged in the past because of this group or that group or this people are those people. You will always sank. Somebody owes you. And if you grow up thinking somebody owes you, I don't know about you, but I'm old enough to know that doesn't work. I think the government owes me. I've paid them a lot of money. I want less potholes on the roads, but no matter who I call or what I say, nobody listens, listen, you got to understand your past your failures. Don't define you. If you've had a rough past, my heart breaks for you. But if you know Jesus Christ as your savior, I want to tell you you've got a bright future.
Speaker 0 00:39:49 You don't need to look at other people and depend on them to tell you who you can be. Look to Christ. He can tell you who you are. Moses didn't want to leave because he was a murderer. Elijah didn't want to leave because he was alone. Jonah didn't want to leave because he didn't like the job he was given. Peter didn't want to leave because he blew his faith in the water. Literally, Paul didn't want to leave because he brought up, we was brought up in a family that hated Jesus, but Jesus radically changed all these men and he can change us too. And the Bible teaches us that a changed individual changed by God doesn't last, let the past or the failures from the past influence their future. Your past is what God can use to change others through you. It can be a powerful tool like with pastor Paul. You know, that guy could have grown up and hated God and hated life. But God is using that guy to change. So many people who have been through alcohol abuse and drug abuse, because God took his past failures and turn them into a present strength.
Speaker 0 00:40:58 This is another part of our culture. That's becoming increasingly difficult to address because I know I'm addressing a bunch of men here this morning. They think to themselves, I'm a little bit of a failure, Craig. I blew it in the past. I haven't been the dad. I need to be I've. My kids are grown. They're up, they're out now. And I just didn't. I didn't do things right. I should have done things better. And I'm not doing things right now. So I'm maybe even listening to this message. Listen, every body fails. Everybody fails. That's the point of it.
Speaker 0 00:41:36 If you're a dad or you're a man and you're not married or you don't have a family, yet everybody fails, but men don't let their past failures to find them. Don't buy the lie that the game is over. You're still here for a reason. God's not done with you yet. Surrender that past failure, those past emotions, that past damage that's been done to you in your life, give it to Christ and watch what he can do through you today. And tomorrow, listen to what God would say to you. Date is surrender what you must, but give it to the Lord. I give you Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. As I like to call him your shack, my shack and a bungalow. These guys from the book of Daniel were amazing. Individuals. Israel has been destroyed and the Israelites have been taken captive. Literally Jerusalem is lying in ruins.
Speaker 0 00:42:27 Babylon has come to power. All the old people are dead. And if you're thinking to yourself, I'm not old in this day, you got married when you were like 14. Okay? So you're old. Unless you're really, really young. What they did was they kill all the old people. And they took all of the children, all the young ones, all the ones with power or a name behind them in culture, in the culture that they were in. And they carry them across the desert and chains. They brought them to Babylon and they gave them new names. They gave them a new language. They gave them a new identity. They said, you can't talk Hebrew anymore. They gave them new food. They had to eat new food. They were brainwashed to be Babylonians. These young guys, three of them, well, four of them went through them or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Speaker 0 00:43:15 And then, you know, one other in his name was Daniel. You had to get them young. You had to get everything they knew from the past out of their minds. Listen, if anyone's passionate to find them, it should be these guys. These guys should grow up. As the most angry young people you'd ever meet, God has led us down. God is supposed to protect our nation. Now we're in chains. In Babylon. Our families are all destroyed. Massacred. Our home lies in ruins. We have no more name. We have no more personnel. Everything has been taken from us. If anyone has a right to be angry and say, my past should define me. It would be Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Speaker 0 00:44:01 Besides this, everything they were asked by the Babylonians they had to do. And you know what? Daniel is full of a lot of their requests to do what they knew God wanted them to do. And you think to yourself, wait a second. Why are they even interested in what God wants them to do? God has blown. It he's let them down. But these guys stand up the Lord because they're real men. One day king Nebuchadnezzar built an idol of gold in a plane called it's in Daniel three. We're going to enter into the, the, the storyline in just a moment. This, this statue was 90 feet high. You know how much 90 feet high is? I did a little, a little thing on this. About four years ago, I got up in a cage of a, uh, fire engine. Uh, and, and they extended the ladder almost to the full height.
Speaker 0 00:44:55 And then I looked down that was 90 feet. It's almost a full extension of a fire engine ladder. It's a high stature, gold and dura is a plane that you could see around from us. So he invited a bunch of people while all the people of Babylon to come and see his new statue. He had a new toy. It was wonderful. Shined it up. Can you imagine building this thing? Like how many people died building, whoa, whoa. You know how many people died? Building the sucker. He stands it up. He invites everybody to come around. You can see this thing for miles. And when the sun shone on it with a gold that covered it, you would have seen the glean for miles. He invited people around and when the music played, he would have this big band like us. He would have the big band play.
Speaker 0 00:45:41 And, uh, when he played that, when they hear the music played, they would all bow. Now, when they bowed, they would go straight down to the ground. You've probably seen pictures of this, of, uh, of different, uh, different religious sex doing this today. But it's more than just bouncing like this. It was like on your knees, head to the ground button, the air. And when that happens, it's an amazing sight. Can you imagine hundreds of thousands, maybe a million people doing this at the same time, everybody bow there, it goes to music like musical chairs. When instead of finding a chair, you hit the ground. The music played and almost everybody bowed Daniel three six, whoever does not fall down and worship. Here's the instructions shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. That's him. That's a good incentive. I would say you don't bow.
Speaker 0 00:46:33 You burn. And we're going to put you in there. You're going to be tied up and you're going to feel everything. So bow, not only real men are not defined by their failures, but real men step up to responsibility. These three men knew who they were. They were God's children. And everybody around them knew as well. They knew who these guys were. So, so they want to do the right thing and they take a chance and they don't bow. Can you imagine hundreds of thousand, maybe a million people bowing to the ground and three people not. Can you imagine how that must have stood out?
Speaker 0 00:47:18 And they just stood there. We're not going to bow. So there were a bunch of other men let's call them. Tattletales who see these three, not bowing. And they run up to Nebuchadnezzar. And here's what they say. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon. See any jealousy in there. These three guys had done so well in the past that never can, as her head promoted them to be leaders in the communities they had done so well that there are some tattletales that are a little bit jealous. You can tell certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon. We know their names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men okaying pay no attention to you. Can you see them buttering up? They don't care what you say. They don't serve your gods or worship. The golden image that you have set up. These men were not like other
Speaker 3 00:48:14 Man. I love it.
Speaker 0 00:48:17 Do you notice how many men have their heads to the ground here?
Speaker 3 00:48:21 Three don't.
Speaker 0 00:48:25 They were God's men. They followed God's rules. They were a different breed than the thousands of men around them. They literally stook out like a sore, stuck out, stuck, stood out, stuck out stuff. They, they literally stood out
Speaker 3 00:48:41 Like a sore thumb.
Speaker 0 00:48:43 They knew who they were. And I want to, well, you guys, we live in a culture that is trying to confuse us as to who we are as men, the stats of how many fathers have abandoned their children only to grow that summated that one in four children live without their biological father at home of teenagers. 43 of urban teens live away from their fathers. When asked, interestingly enough, 72% of Americans said fatherlessness is the most significant family crisis in America today. Did you know that people are not confused about this, but the more we hear on the media, the more we think to ourselves, how can people not see it?
Speaker 0 00:49:32 They choose not to believe it. Only 2% of Americans said fatherlessness is the most significant family or social problem facing America. Today in 1960 9% of children lived without a father in the home today. That figure is higher than 40%. 90% of all runaways are from fatherless homes. These are, this is, most of those figures are from the census bureau. 90% of all runaways are homes that have don't have fathers in them. 71% of high school, dropouts are from homes without a father. 75% of those in substance abuse programs are from homes without a father, 70% of juveniles in state controlled operations. This is from the U S department of justice. 70% of juveniles are from homes without a father. 63% of youth suicides are from homes without a father.
Speaker 0 00:50:28 When the Bible speaks to you as fathers, it calls you by name. You're a father for a reason, you were meant to father your children. So men step up, step up to your responsibility. You may think to yourself, it's hard, Craig, I don't, I don't know how to do it. I don't know if I can do it. Welcome to life is not easy for anybody. You meet a dad that that seems to have a great time. You, you you've missed a lot of the heartache in between anything that you get in life that you enjoy. My guess is you probably worked for it. Your most precious gift is your family. You gotta work for it.
Speaker 0 00:51:10 The hardest part, I think for us guys, sometimes as, as dads, as husbands is we got to die to self that's. One of the hardest things, because we like to think we're self-made. And so when we listen to somebody else, especially our wives who know us really, really well. We have a tendency to say, ah, I know better than they do. I'm not going to submit. They need to do more than I do whatever, fill in the blank. But ultimately they are lies of Satan because the Bible says in Ephesians five, that we should submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. So for us guys, if you think you've got a hard time being a dad or being a husband, join the club, you're not called to do this because it's easy. You're called to do it because it is amazing. It will bless your life more than any other thing that you will ever experience no funeral.
Speaker 0 00:52:00 And I've done a heck of a lot of them. No funeral have I ever done where somebody says about the man lying in the casket, boy, I wish they just had, have worked more, never happened, but I do hear from their children and I hear from their wives and I hear from their families, he was a good individual. He gave to other people. He was selfless. They pick those things because we all know deep down inside morally. That's the value of a man not to work hard, but to give, to sacrifice, to submit it's hard. I don't have it easy either. Beth has it easy. I've got to pay for that. I've got to pay for that.
Speaker 0 00:52:55 That doesn't have it easy. My children sometimes they'll tell you I let them down, but we are not the sum of our failures. Number one, we, we, we go to somebody when we've hurt them and we know we've blown it. We make it right. And then real men step up to their responsibilities. Listen, it's time that fathers step up. Number three, real men. You're going to hate this one. It's a four letter word, real men love. I know, I know. Here's where it starts getting mushy. Real men. Love men are our command from God is clear. Do you know your primary responsibility as men? Do you know what it is? Love, love. That's it? I know. And we're thinking to ourselves that can't be right. That's the hardest thing in the world to do. Aha. You are born with a sinful nature. Your sinful nature grinds against what you're supposed to do, but everywhere in scripture, we are called to love.
Speaker 0 00:54:04 You don't believe me. Let me give you a few. Your primary responsibility is to love who God here it is. Actually wait a second. Oh, I'll get to that in a minute, man. Your primary responsibility is to love God. Your secondary responsibility is to love your neighbor. Husbands. If you're married husbands, since you are married, sorry, your primary responsibility is to love your wife. Fathers. If you have children, your primary responsibility is to raise them in the love and admonition of the Lord. There's a common theme here. Do you know why it's called brotherly love and not sisterly love. You've heard that term, right? The city of brotherly love. You want to know why? Because a man's love is powerful women, women. You're, you're important to you're. You're powerful, but it's brotherly love because God has given a punch in the love that a man can give.
Speaker 0 00:55:02 Showing love seems to go against our sinful nature. It seems to be a struggle for our male gender to show signs of love, where we're almost thinking to ourselves. Maybe it's not manly, but God highlights it for us everywhere. Let me go. First of all, before we get to some of the key passages, let me, first of all, go to song of Solomon. This guy, he had women like crazy, right? You know, Solomon, Solomon had women everywhere and in doing so, he disobeyed God, let's just make that clear. But ultimately he knew the power of a man and he tapped into it. Song of Solomon for one, listen to some of the words he wrote. Beloved. You are beautiful. My love behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like, you see that veil that like the wedding, your eyes are like doves behind your veil, your hair, like a flock of goats, leaping down the slopes of Gilliad. Men. Write that one down. It's a winner.
Speaker 0 00:56:02 Number seven says you are all together. Beautiful. My love. There's not a flaw in you. Number nine says you captivate my heart. My sister, my bride, you've captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace, men, you are to have the hots for your wives. If you want to read the rest of the song of Solomon, feel free to do so. It's some of it is a little R-rated for church while PG 13, but it's written by a man with love for his wife, men. We are to love our wives. That thought is captured all the way through scripture, Ephesians 5 25. This is your role in the relationship you have with your wife. Fusion's 5 25 husbands. If you're a husband here or at home, would you read this with me? Here we go. Husbands, love your wives. As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Do you know the standard of how you should love your wives, men?
Speaker 3 00:57:07 The standard is that
Speaker 0 00:57:11 You should love your wife to the point where you're willing to suffer and die for her. Now you probably never will. And sometimes I think it might be easier to die for somebody than to live for somebody. Sometimes it's easier to take a train in the head than to swallow my pride. Man, love our wives as Christ loved the church. There's your stamps. Not only that, but fathers are meant to love their children. Mentor their children, teach their children. God's word, teach them God's wishes for them. That's why Moses writes to us in Deuteronomy six, verse six, these words I command you today shall be on your heart. God is speaking to Moses here. And he says, Moses, everything I'm commanding you today, make it a part of your life. And then he goes to verse seven. You shall teach them diligently to your church, teach them diligently, ever teach something diligently.
Speaker 0 00:58:13 You ever teach something passively? Yeah. You just show up. I'm reading this. We're done. Every teach something diligently manual are to take the commands of God and teach them diligently to your children. Talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise, do you know why it says that it says that because it's meant to impact your life so that you impact their life every minute, the day, whether you're going to bed or getting up in the morning or anytime in between this was called mentoring. It means that we point to Jesus continually, whatever happens in life. I've used this story before, but I want to use it again because it's powerful. And in this case, it just really impacted me. And hopefully my children, there was a point of time when we were without income in our home. And we were dependent on the Lord to get us through. It was a weird time in our lives.
Speaker 0 00:59:14 Every once in a while, I would go to the mailbox and in the mailbox, once in a while, there was a envelope in there with a little smiley face. I know you've heard this story before I pull the envelope out with a little smiley face and inside somebody had blessed us with a thousand dollar check every once in a while. So I'd go. If we'd be in trouble financially, I go to the mailbox and I open it up going, please be a smiley face, please smiley face. Yes. And then we go inside and I'd call the family round the kitchen table. And I'd say, look what God did for us. And I put the mail on the table and I pull out the envelope and we'd open it together. And we pull out the check and my kids knew God had blessed us through this individual to this day. I don't know who it is. And if you're listening, God bless you for giving me such a wonderful way to mentor my children.
Speaker 0 01:00:09 Because after we opened that my kids knew where we were financially. They knew the trouble that we were in. We would open that envelope and we'd look at that. And we, and I would say to them, look what God has done for us through one of his servants. And we'd pray. And we thank God for that. That is mentoring. Your children is pointing them to God through every circumstance. This is what we're called as men to do. Luck has nothing to do with it. You need to take every circumstance of life, look at your children and say, this is what God did for us today. That's why it's important to pray with your children. They need to hear it from your lips, your mouth giving, thanks to God for his provision for your family. So many men don't pray with their children anymore. I don't know why do it? Sure. It's hard. Step up, be a man. I want to point my children to God all the time. I can't guarantee them that they will be absolutely sold out to God and blessed in their life, but I can put up a whole lot of obstacles in their way. So I choose to remove the obstacles and point them to Jesus. I believe our children grow closer to God through the way that we live out, our manhood.
Speaker 3 01:01:25 All right, number three, God
Speaker 0 01:01:31 Man came to Jesus one day and he said, what is my responsibility for God before God? What is the most important commandment? What do I need to do to really impress God? And Jesus said to him, Matthew 22, 38, you shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment man. You're supposed to love God with everything you have. Love your wives. Love your children. Love God. These are all conversations that are, that are, that men are having and they all have to do with love. Do you catch the common theme here? And you think of yourself? What? Craig, Craig, I can't love everybody. Then look at the next verse. Matthew two verse 39. Jesus continues. The second command is like it. Read it with me church. You shall love your neighbor as yourself, man. Your whole life apparently is supposed to be about loving, who would have thought that, but before God men are commanded to love. Do you know? Do you want to know why? I think deep down, I think this is the case because I think this is where Satan gets to us. Men
Speaker 3 01:02:48 Fastest.
Speaker 0 01:02:50 If he can make us angry, he can love or full of shame. If he can replace that desire to love with any other negative thing, like shame, guilt, all of those things, anger. If he can replace it with those and get us focused on that, we never have to love. We'll never be able to love how many angry people have you met that you've loved or they loved you. That's not in the DNA or people who are trying to hide who they are. It's difficult for them to love because they feel guilty. If God can replace that love with any other. I'm sorry. If Satan can replace that love with any other emotion, he'll do it. You want to know why the world's so angry today because if Satan can keep the world angry, there's a lot less love shown.
Speaker 0 01:03:45 Angry. People have terrible prayer lives. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not afraid to love the Lord. Regardless if they were going to be burned, they choose to love God more than their own lives. Here's what they say to the king verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, oh, never condenser. We have no need to answer you in this matter. Do you know what they do? You know what they say there? I know it's very poetic and everything. They literally are saying, you didn't have to call us up here. We already know what we're going to say. We don't, we don't need to go home and think about this and pray about this. We already know we have no need to answer you in this matter. You don't need to give us time to think about this verse 17. If it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.
Speaker 0 01:04:40 And he will deliver us out of your hand king. Okay. That's pretty good. Like, okay, God will save them. They're they're confident, right? Not quite verse 18, but if not be it known to you, okay, we will not serve your gods. And we will not worship the golden image you have set up. Do you see these men? They're literally saying so we're standing before you, but you didn't need to call us up here. We're already know what we're going to say. You have the power to take away our lives. God has the power to save us. We're we're in good hands. But if he decides not to, we're good with that too. Either way. We are not bowing to your idol. That's a man note to think. Do you think these guys like got away? Do you think let's Shadrack was like, guys, I'm not sure I'm on board with you guys with all this. Like I admire you. I love you. You know, it's really hot in that furnace and that king is a nut job and he's going to do it. So I, you know, do you think, or do you think all three said we know who we are and we are not
Speaker 3 01:05:49 Going to bow. I think
Speaker 0 01:05:51 All three of them said, yeah, shatter x-ray yeah. Let me check. Right? Yeah, Bendigo's right. We don't even need to think about this. We are men of God. We know who we are. We are not identified by our feelings. We are not identified by any other thing. Our identity is that God has created us. We are in his image and we will worship him until our dying day, which could be in a couple of hours. We will worship him until our dying
Speaker 3 01:06:18 That's that's men.
Speaker 0 01:06:23 Even if it kills us, we can't obey your order because we love God more than we love our own knives. We will not break our oath with our God. Even if it means you taking away our lives. Listen, there's a power exhibited in a man who exhibits a love for God, man, if you can exhibit a love for God in front of others, there is no other greater power in the world. A 50 year study of Christians and non-Christian families. Most young adults who follow Jesus Christ in their lives, either come from one non-Christian homes where they were introduced to Jesus later in life. And they radically fell in love with Jesus or two came from homes where they grew up and they fell in love with Jesus because they saw it
Speaker 3 01:07:13 In their moms and their dads.
Speaker 0 01:07:16 Either way, men who radically followed Jesus, radically love
Speaker 3 01:07:21 Jesus.
Speaker 0 01:07:23 So men love, and it has to begin with God first. Do you know the verse? Let me take it back to the Moses verse. When he writes and he says, these commands are to be on your heart. You remember that in the old Testament, teach them to your children. You remember that passage? We just read it out of Deuteronomy. Do you know how that verse starts? It starts with a Hebrew Shamar. Shamar simply means here, listen. It's how the whole section starts. It's Deuteronomy six verse four here. Shamar hero Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one. And then what does it say? Church? You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, these words are supposed to be on your heart day and night. Teach them to your children. You know why you do that?
Speaker 0 01:08:11 Because you are radically in love with God, love God with everything you have and then you can lead your home and your family really well, man, God has given us an incredible potential that only male gender can have. We have a potential to impact others with a love for Jesus. That simply is given to us individually. I don't know what I don't know. I can't explain it. And women, you should love Jesus too. I'm not taking anything away from that. I'm just telling you men that if you are radically in love with Jesus, you have a potential to change this world.
Speaker 0 01:08:57 That's why over and over. God says men. If you're a man, love, if you're a man, love. If you're a man love who do you love? You love God. You love your children. You love your wife. You love your neighbor. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were so courageous and it was not popular. I can't imagine how odd they must have felt when they were the only ones standing. They look around them and they think to themselves, are we crazy? Everybody else is bowing. Are we, are we insane? Is this really right? It's like Luther standing before the council at the diet of worms and he's standing before them. And they said, he thought he was going to get a chance to explain himself to say, we have to radically change the church. And he stands before the council and they said, don't speak. You speak. We're kill you. We kill you. We kill you. But they really meant it. He said, you don't get a chance to speak. He said, no, no. He was a lawyer. He would Sue studied to be a lawyer headed. He had a great speech plan. They wouldn't let him say a thing. They said, you go home. You pray on this. You come back tomorrow. And if you don't recant for this whole, let's interpret the Bible for everybody to read kind of nonsense.
Speaker 0 01:10:15 If you don't come back and recant, we're going to kill you. He came back the next day. He said, and he even said to him, they said, do you think you're the only one? Right? He said, that phrase is what got him. When we went home that night and he didn't sleep.
Speaker 3 01:10:34 Am I the only one standing?
Speaker 0 01:10:38 He came out the next day and he said, God helped me
Speaker 3 01:10:41 Here. I stand to do no. He said that
Speaker 0 01:10:46 I think a shadowed me, shotgun and Bendigo. And then he ignited the Protestant reformation. And is one of the main reasons you have a Bible laying in your lap right now, these guys were men. They set the example. Nebuchadnezzar was angry. He was so angry. Look at verse 19. Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury because he wasn't getting his way. And he always did get his way. And the of his face was changed. Have you ever met somebody that's so angry? The expression of their face changes. That's an angry face. His expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than it was usually heated. Now how hot does a fire need to be to kill you? This guy's angry. Make it seven times hotter. I don't think we can do it. Okay. You ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach. Meshach and Abednego. And to cast them into the burning fire furnace, they're going to pay a price.
Speaker 3 01:11:48 But
Speaker 0 01:11:48 When they were thrown into the fire furnace, you know the story, they didn't burn, not a, not a piece of their clothing burned, not even, uh, the smell of fire in their hair. Wasn't even there. You ever been around a campfire, you smell it in the pit somebody's hair. Not even that, not even the smell of fire in their hair. And when they went into the furnace, they were joined
Speaker 3 01:12:06 By another man.
Speaker 0 01:12:09 They were joined by Jesus Christ, a pre-incarnate form before Jesus was born and never get as her looks into the fire. And he says, guys, I told you to throw three in there. There's four in there who messed up. There's four guys walking around in the fire. That's why we sing the song that we sing. There's another in the fire. You know this song, there's another in the fire standing next to me, there's another in the water, holding back the sea either way. I won't bow to the things of this world. And I know I'll never be alone, man. God can use you to change the world. You have it built into your maleness.
Speaker 3 01:12:50 No matter if you're outgoing like me or you're quiet in the background, you have the potential to change the world. And Satan knows it. So
Speaker 0 01:13:02 He's getting men to shut up, man. We need to speak. Oh, never can. That is our answer. Look at what happened. Change the world. Bless it. Be the Lord. God of Shadrach, Meshach, and the Bendigo who sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him and has set aside the King's command my command, not to speak of yourself in third person. So you don't feel as bad and set aside the King's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serving worship any God except their own. God. Therefore I will make a decree. Any people, nation or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, their houses laid in ruins. I want a debt. I want a family debt. I want, I don't know if there's no other God who is able to rescue in this way. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon and the tattletales went. What, what just happened? What happened was these three guys stood for God. They loved God more than their own lives. And God did a miracle and use them, use them to influence a king, use them to influence, to give grace to the other captives that were in Babylon.
Speaker 0 01:14:21 Use them to influence. By the way, if you read the story of never condenser, I believe never condenser is in heaven today. I believe he became a Christian.
Speaker 3 01:14:30 And I think
Speaker 0 01:14:30 These kinds of moments here is what it took to breakthrough men lead by example at home, at work at church lead by example, which brings us to the fourth one, real men. You're going to hate this one. It's a five letter word. Real men submit. If he's in five, before it tells you the love their wives that says submit to one another out of reverence for Christ men, real men submit, even in raising our children, you got to submit. Did you know that if he's in six, four fathers, don't provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in instruction and discipline and instruction of the Lord. You know, you're not allowed to raise your own kids like you want to. Did you know that men, you are not allowed to raise your kids? Like you want to, you are to raise your kids. Like God wants you to you. Don't like that submit real men submit. That's why it's written that way. When men attend church in Hebrews 13, 17, it says obey your leaders and submit to them for their keeping. Watch over your souls. As those who have to give an account. When you attend church, you submit to those in leadership in the church doesn't mean you can't think for yourself for goodness sakes. That's not the moral of the story. The moral of the story is everything in you wants to say. I'll get you back.
Speaker 3 01:15:44 Submit when
Speaker 0 01:15:47 Madden battled, temptation and sin. When you go home and you're visited by that
Speaker 3 01:15:52 Temptation, James
Speaker 0 01:15:54 4, 7, 7 says submit yourselves. Therefore to who church submit yourselves, therefore to God, you need to start there. And here's what will happen. Resist the devil and what will happen. He will flee from you. The power of real men in submission is beyond our understanding. Submit to God in how you love your wife, submit to God and how you love your neighbor, submit to God and how you raise your children, submit to God and how you go to church, submit to God and how you deal with temptation and the promises, the potential of a man of a real man doing these things. As you can change the world, God's the best plan for being a dad and real men is found in these four things. Here's your big. So Watts, we already did them. What does God expect from a man? Step up to responsibilities.
Speaker 3 01:16:47 Don't let your circumstances define you, love and show it, submit and grow from it.
Speaker 0 01:16:59 Let's fill this world with real men. What do you say, father? I thank you for the time that we had this morning to look into your word. It has been a privilege talking to these men online and in the house. It's been a privilege talking about what it means to be a real man. Culture always tries to redefine that term for us, gives us a variety of options to choose from. But none of them
Speaker 3 01:17:27 Deal with what you have told us.
Speaker 0 01:17:30 The ingredients are for a real man. So father may our church be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And in this culture, may we stand for what we know to be right in a world that bows
Speaker 3 01:17:43 To idols
Speaker 0 01:17:46 In this way, father, may we change our culture? Maybe we influence maybe we point culture to you. Instead of looking to culture,
Speaker 3 01:17:54 To point us to the God we serve,
Speaker 0 01:17:58 Teach us father how to do that better. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, this has been mainly for men this morning, but ladies, you, you are, uh, doing a great job.
Speaker 3 01:18:12 Uh, the power of a, of
Speaker 0 01:18:15 A home that's centered around godly principles has the power to change the next generation for Christ. And if you want to begin to start in your little circle, you'll be amazed at what you can do in your little circle. You amazed at how far those ripples go. We were in an incident this past week, actually last week, there was a dog attack. I got involved in the dog attack. I wasn't our dog, but I was helping two young guys that were walking their dogs. And they were attacked by a ferocious dog. And I saw what was happening. And I ran out. There was nobody else around. It was like a hundred degree weather. And I was trying to get the dog away. I did whatever I could to get the dog away, protect the kids and their dogs. And anyway, all of that to say, it seemed to last for, you know, half an hour.
Speaker 0 01:19:03 It probably lasted for all of 10 minutes. At the end of it, the police showed up. They had to do a interview with the people that own the dog. And then the police came to our house to take our statement. Cause I got involved in the situation and the police showed up at my front door and the guy stood on the sidewalk and he said, you don't know me? Do you? I said, no, I, sorry. I know I should obviously, but I don't. And he starts quoting scripture to me and he says, I know you pastor.
Speaker 0 01:19:38 And apparently he and I had met a while ago and he recognized me. And I obviously didn't recognize him. It's amazing to me how, how far our extensions go. And we don't know it. You still know it. And you think to yourself, well, Craig I'll live for Christ, but how many people can I really influence you are going to be amazed because the ripples from your decisions to follow God, God will, God will make that rock in that water throw ripples. You can't believe. I believe if we do this, we can really change our world. That is a biblical principle. That is why Jesus came in the first place I finished with communion. We proclaim, God's still at work in this world. God's still calling people to himself and he's going to use us to do that. He wants to use our lives to create that ripple effect so that the communities in which we live and the people that we work with, no matter how small we think our influence circles actually are, God will make them go wider than we can possibly imagine.
Speaker 0 01:20:40 You'll be amazed if you follow Jesus Christ, how big he will make those ripple effects go. And the reason is because when he lights us up, he does it on purpose. And the new Testament. When Jesus gives the sermon on the Mount, he says, I am lighting you up like a lamp. I never light up a lamp to cover it with a bag. You light a lamp so that it will shine. If you do this in reverence to Jesus Christ, if you fall, you'll be amazed at how far your influence can go. Because Jesus came to make us these kinds of people. We finished doing our service with communion. When you drink the juice, it's a representation that his blood still covers sins. Today. When you eat the bread, it's a representation of his body that was pure. So the blood could flow. We do this to remind ourselves, we still have a job to do. We're still at work. God has called us ambassadors for himself. And there's still a lot of ambassador. The thing to do. I know that's not a word. I made a joke there. God still has us here for a reason. So when you eat in your drink this morning, my challenge to you is eat and drink. Knowing that Christ has us here still
Speaker 3 01:21:50 On purpose.
Speaker 0 01:21:52 If you didn't need you, you wouldn't be here. Whether you're a male or female, you have a job to do. That's why we finished with communion to remind ourselves, we are sold out to him to see what he can do through us. So I invite you to take communion. If you're at home, we always encourage you to get a piece of bread or a cracker or whatever you've got at home and some liquid from the fridge or something. Give it to your family. We want you to participate with us because we want you to feel like you're part of what we're doing here. I know a lot of you can't get out even still. We want to because of COVID. We want it to be a part of this. And so we encourage you to take communion with us. It's a way that brings us together as a family that reminds us together.
Speaker 0 01:22:38 There's still a job for us to do so we encourage you to do that at home. For those of you in house, there's a upfront. You can go up and grab a little cup in the top is bread. Just peel that back. You'll find some bread in the bottom is juice. Be careful when you open it. Uh, it does have a tendency to kind of spill a little bit. Wait for us. When you come up, the band will play, come up and get your stuff. And then I'll come up and we'll eat and drink together. We eat and drink together because it's a reminder that we're all still in together.
Speaker 0 01:23:08 God seeks to use me just like he seeks to use you. So use this time to maybe rededicate yourself to the job God is calling you to do. When you do that, spend a moment in prayer with him right now and commit yourself. If you would, if you feel like the Lord is calling you to do that and just say, God, I need you to use me in this way. Maybe God has put you a job in your heart that you need to do this week. Maybe even today, you may need to make a phone call and need to make something right? You need to surrender something, whatever the Lord is telling you to do, do it. Don't, don't walk by this. This is, this is a moment God has given to you. Spend a moment in prayer, rededicate yourself in whatever way you need to, and then come and celebrate with us. As we do communion together, would you spend some time with the Lord? Oh Jesus. It has been such a privilege talking about our male responsibility before you
Speaker 3 01:24:16 This morning,
Speaker 0 01:24:18 But to participate in communion with one another is such a great way to cap off the day. Thank you that you showed us what it means to submit
Speaker 3 01:24:31 More than we ever will know
Speaker 0 01:24:35 Our call to serve pales in comparison to how you were a servant to us, whatever we would sacrifice pales in comparison to the sacrifice you gave for us. And you did so out of love for us. So father help us to follow your example really well. And as we eat and we drink together this morning, remind
Speaker 3 01:25:04 Us our calling, why we're still here so that we can love this world. Like you love us, not
Speaker 0 01:25:14 The sin in this world, but those who are captured
Speaker 3 01:25:17 By it. And so
Speaker 0 01:25:19 We can sacrifice and serve like you sacrificed and serve for us. Thank you for giving us the greatest example of a man
Speaker 3 01:25:27 We could ever have in Jesus name. Amen.
Speaker 1 01:25:39 <inaudible> <inaudible>. I want to read to you from first Corinthians chapter 11. This is a passage that we read each time. We take communion letter written to the church at Corinth to explain to them why we keep doing this every time when we gather here's what he says in first Corinthians 11, I received from the Lord would also, I delivered to you the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. When he had given thanks. He broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way. Also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this. As often as you drink it in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is how we light that fire and make a difference in our world. Even by doing something, the smell, as small as this, you eat and drink and proclaim the Lord's death.
Speaker 1 01:31:03 Well, it has been a privilege sharing the morning with you. Listen, if you're a man here or you're a man listening online, God wants to use your life where you would still be here. And the potential of a man devoted to God is incredible more than you think. If you need to surrender something this morning, do it. Life is way too short to play games with the one who wants to destroy you. If you need to, if you need to surrender something, do it, get rid of it today. You need help doing that. That's what I'm here for. That's what the elders live for. It's what Brent is standing there all by himself over by our prayer booth for this morning, we would love nothing more than to know. We can help. Jonathan right behind me has an incredible testimony of a moment in life.
Speaker 1 01:32:05 When he surrendered to God and God raised him from those ashes of brokenness and raised him to be used in an amazing he's. One of the best followers of Christ I've ever met, loves God and is an incredible influence, both in his family and his community for Jesus Christ. But it's only because God rescued them from who he was becoming. If you're caught in a sin, we don't judge. We give freedom, not judged. He came because we're already judged. He came to bring freedom from sin. We can lay our heads on our pillows at night and say, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Jesus who walked not after the flesh, but after the spirit, if you need to surrender something today, that's where it starts romance. And then you watch what God can do with a life that's submitted to him. He's doing it in our church on a regular basis. And I'm so thrilled to be a part of it. So men, if you need to do business, let's do it as men do it before one more day escapes us and women. If the men need to be reminded of all the things they need to do, give him one day of a break. All right.
