Stand!! Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: September 22, 2011

Date Preached: September 25, 2011

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: A Series from Philippians

Sermon Title: STAND!

Sermon Text: Philippians 4:1-4 [ESV]

Introduction:

In our country today, men are ridiculed, down played and made out to be the very bane of society. If you watch TV at all you have seen what the role of a man has become… he is either the bumbling husband or boyfriend that has no spine, and has no self confidence and cannot make up his mind…

OR he is the comic cutup with no center in his life, constantly searching for meaning… OR he is the selfish, self-centered, philandering womanizer that takes advantage whoever comes into his life. Rarely does TV ever portray the man for who God created him to be… a strong, compassionate leader who loves easy, works hard, and lives clean!

How many of you remember Ward Cleaver? Ward Cleaver was the clean cut father, who always had the right thing to say, was always on time for things and never ever made a mistake… let me tell you that person does NOT exist in this world! So ladies stop looking for that guy!

God created man to lead the family, but only through and with the completion of the woman… both are incomplete without the other. This does not mean that something is wrong with you if you are single, but God’s order of things is one man/one woman, this is His way.

God created the man to lead the family and when men are responsible and godly in the leadership role, God blesses… Now why am I saying this about men today? Well, I believe that within the church men have taken the back seat and have abdicated their God-given role… because of this women have stepped up into roles out of their comfort zone so that things would get done… men of the church have not been the men they need to be, and this has been true for several decades in our country!

When pastor Fred Luter arrived at Franklin Ave Baptist Church in New Orleans’ crime ridden 9th ward in the fall of 1986 there was a small contingent of members of about 50, and pastor Fred told me there were 5 men besides himself… the rest were women and children.

Bro Fred knew that if he was going to win his community for Christ that he would have to start with the men… without the men he would never gain headway into the neighborhood! So what did pastor Fred do? Well in 1986 the sports world was all excited about a fight that was coming up… Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas ‘the Hitman’ Hearns… anyone here remember those guys?

Pastor Fred ordered that fight and told the women of his congregation that he wanted them to invite their husbands, boyfriends, brothers, sons, uncles, nephews and neighbors to come to pastor Fred’s house for this fight. 35 men showed up that night… many with cigarettes and beer bottles and although Pastor Fred did not allow that into his house, he said he welcomed them all into the house and that after that night… 5 of those guys came to church and after that 5 more… and he began to evangelize and disciple them…

Today Franklin Avenue has 2 Sun morning services and averages over 2100 in each service… I tell you all this to relay to you a principle that has been proven over and over again… when MEN lead in the church, God blesses and the church will prosper! This is because this is the way God has designed things.

This ‘formula’ has proven true statistically over the past several decades… statistics tell us that if you reach the children of the house, that 18% of the families will start coming to church, and that’s not too bad. Better yet, if you reach the women of the house, 20% of the families will start coming to church, which is still not a bad thing…

However, here is the startling statistic that boggles my mind… when the man of the house is reached and won to Christ, a staggering 90% of those families begin regular church attendance and participation! 90% that is almost unbelievable… but it proves the concept that so goes the man, so goes the family… OR when we put it into the church perspective… so goes the man… so goes the church!

You show me a church filled with obedience, servant minded, godly men… and I will show you a church that is FIRST obedient to God’s calling, SECOND moving in the right direction and THIRD the blessing of God will be upon them! God blesses and honors obedience!

Men, the church is in the shape it is in for ONE major reason… we have not been what we have been called to be by God! It’s time we changed… it’s time we stood up… it’s time we ‘manned’ up and began to live as God has called us to live!