Man up!
Psalm 112
Introduction-
Mothers get the red carpet treatment on their day, with fabulous brunches and beautiful bouquets. For the fathers, however, retailers have cleverly priced almost everything under $9.99!
Case in point: the Talking Fly Swatter. It’s a lime-green fly swatter with a little speaker that says stuff like "Hasta la vista, baby!" "Flight canceled!" and "Die sucker!" every time you try to use it.
Most of us have an idea what television’s definition of a “real man” is.
Rambo
Chuck Morris
Arnold Swarzenegger.
It’s the bad boys, it is the tough guys.
It is unemotional, uncaring, driven at all cost, those who would lay down their life for his cause.
But how many of you have an idea of what the biblical man looks like?
You would have to agree with me that the world does not need more Rambo’s, the world need more men behaving Godly instead of behaving badly.
I bring a challenge. The challenge is to the men this morning.
I am sorry ladies that it is addressed at them, but if they take the challenge and succeed, you will benefit greatly.
You may want to be praying for a breakthrough.
The challenge is to be Godly in a world that expects you to behave badly.
Psalms 112
Listen,
Today men are nor fearing God
Today children are out of control and needing role models.
Today God is looking for men to step up to the plate and be who God intended them to be.
This challenge comes with a wake-up call to God’s men.
Your wives/girlfriends need you to be godly.
Your children are needing you to be godly.
Your church is needing you to be godly.
Every avenue of your life cry for you to be godly.
Your not married- We still need you to take control and be godly.
Families are falling apart-
Society is suffering because men are failing in their God given roles as spiritual leaders.
This Psalm was written by a man to men.
King David wrote the Psalm.
He was a man’s man.
You remember, this is the brave boy who killed Goliath and cut off his head. Rambo and Terminator rolled up in one.
David had a family.
David did not always do things tight.
Like most men, David allowed things to distract him from the priorities in his life.
His priorities should have been walking with God and being the leader God intended both in his kingdom as king and as father in his home.
Almost 300,000 men become father’s everyday.
It usually comes with no training and no instruction manual.
If men would be as God intended, they would change this world!
Proverbs 20:6
“Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?”
God is looking to change those numbers of men becoming fathers and not making an impact on them or being a part of their lives.
Let’s not get in to the mechanicals of it;
It does not take much to father a child, but it does take a lifetime to correctly be a father.
As men in society get farther away from God, the farther all of society is getting away from God.
God is looking for some men to take back their homes, their churches, their communities for Jesus Christ and snatch some from the flames of Hell as God leads them.
Do you want to be a part of that moment of God?
Not generic, that would be good, but you become one of those men God uses.
It begins with verse one
“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commandments.”
Happy is the man who is reverent to the things of God, who finds delight in His commands.
I. Take back the power God gave you (write down)
You are to lead your family (by example)
You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. (1st)
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. (2nd)
You are to train up your child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it. (3rd).
The Christian father/husband is a tool in the hand of God.
Instructions and disciplines should be in the love that Christ has for us and the father/husband should never present himself as the ultimate authority that rules with an iron fist.
Martin Luther-
“Keep an apple beside the rod to give the child when he does well.”
Take back the authority God gave you as the leader in your family, and do it that they see Jesus in you.
What person would not follow if they saw Jesus?
Blessed be the man who fears God and finds delight in His commands.
Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatsoever he does prospers.
I got to tell you that your wife or girlfriend will be all over that!
They will gladly turn over authority to a man following after God’s heart. Amen!
If you acknowledge where your power is coming from and they see Jesus in your life;
You will influence and win your wife over.
You have a chance to make an impact!
David Moore-
“The heart of every little boy or girl lies within a father’s hand. Every broken promise and abusive word tears a hole that may never be mended.”
Fatherless children are being destroyed by society.
Don’t rely on your wife to spiritually train the children.
Don’t send them to church- Fathers, take them to church!
II. Take back your manhood!
I heard it said that men think they are Rambo, John Wayne, Albert Einstein and a good looking dude all rolled up into one. We are wrong in one or more points there!
It’s okay to be emotional- keep it under control
It’s okay to be sensitive- don’t wear it on your sleeves
It’s okay to be involved in family- take an active interest in the direction they go.
Real men do not have to be clubbing it out like cave men, real men cry for things that have meaning, unless you think your more a man than Jesus who weep over Jerusalem, or you think you can handle the beatings he took for each of us on the cross- that is a real man!
Real men wear pink! That was a note I received from my childhood friend along with a pink shirt as a reminder.
This guy grew up with me and sent it to me to remind me of what real men look like- not who we keep painting them as.
Manhood is being the father/husband God intended you to be.
Manhood is being a mentor to someone God has brought into your life.
WEAR THE PANTS
Levi-Strauss recently ran an ad campaign that targeted men for a line of Dockers pants (June 2011). Maybe you've seen some of the ads. One of them was called a "MAN-ifesto," and the script went like this:
"Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely had to open doors, and little old ladies never had to cross the street alone. Men took charge because that's what they did. But somewhere along the way the world decided it no longer needed men. Disco by disco, latte by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their khakis and left stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny.
"But today there are questions our genderless society has no answers for. The world sits idly by as cities crumble, children misbehave, and those little old ladies remain on one side of the street. For the first time since bad guys, we need heroes. We need grownups. We need men to put down the plastic fork, step away from the salad bar, and untie the world from the tracks of complacency. It's time to get your hands dirty. It's time to answer the call of manhood. It's time to wear the pants."
Real men bring encouragement to those they are around.
Average Dad spends 38 seconds a day talking to their kids. That is not enough time to being encouragement or training or love.
III. Take back the right priorities in your life
God first
Family second…………..priority one and two!
Survey conducted asked the 10 most things men worried about.
#1 personal health
#2 lack of time
#5 Personal investment
#7 Relationship with their wife
#10 Marriage
Men’s person life was #7, #10, and God was not even in the top 10. Our priorities are messed up!
Winding down, just about beat you up enough!
What are your priorities?
Is God first?
Is your Family second?
If God is not first- that is the first step!
Matthew 6:33
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Passion for God!
Assume your responsibilities
Assume your financial responsibilities
Assume your family responsibilities.
God is so looking for men to step up and make Him a priority.
We have everything so out of wack, it is no wonder we have so many problems
He is looking for men to lead their families and make an impact on the kingdom of God.
Listen,
Take the authority God gave you to lead your family.
Take back your manhood- Be the man that God intended you to be.
Get things in the right priority.
Watch God do some amazing things in your life, your family, your church, your workplace.
Amen.
