Act Like Men, Part 2

That truly is our prayer that God will reveal himself to you as we study his word together We began last Saturday morning. I'm sorry last Sunday morning looking at one of the five Imperatives that Paul gives the Church of Corinth act like men He gives five imperatives at the end of his letter to the Church of Corinth But it doesn't mean that the ladies are off the hook Because when Paul addresses the Church of Corinth, he addresses both the men and the women We have used the phrase act like men a phrase used only one time in the New Testament But used many times in the Old Testament.

We showed you that last week to help you understand That the men of the church need to truly act like men It's a word that means to grow up to spiritual maturity. It means to Show yourself confident in the things spiritually Emotionally mentally, it's it's a growing up of the individual And we're helping you understand and we address this specifically to our men to help them understand How do I live in a way that acts like a man? That shows my spiritual maturity that demonstrates my confidence That I can live the life that God wants me to live for the glory and honor of his name And we covered the first three last week I'm gonna give you 12 of them and we covered the first three last week to help you understand how to begin to Understand your biblical manhood as you begin to lead in your family And we're doing this for our men because we want them to be the leaders of their family To be able to lead their way when it comes to spiritual maturity To lead the way when it comes to confidence and courage and strength in the family For as the father leads so goes the family and so we're challenging the men of our church to understand 1st Corinthians 16 13 to act like men and so we began last week by telling you that to do that you must live purposefully You must live with a purpose and that is purpose is to is to glorify and honor the name of Christ You're living for the glory of Christ.

You're not living for the glory of self You're living to honor Christ not to honor self. You're living to lift up the Christ not to lift up self You know that you're living for the glory of the king So therefore whatever you do whether you eat a drink you do all to the glory of God He who honors me. I will honor says the Lord John 12 our Lord God said he who serves my father or He who serves me honors my father and my father will honor him and So we are to live for the glory and honor the king. That's what it means to live Purposefully if you have another purpose, then you can't act like a man That's why Paul says you need to grow up To manhood to adulthood to spiritual maturity because babies live for themselves babies live Because they're so so self-absorbed all they can think about is me and Myself and mine and all that kind of stuff Paul says need to act like a man to do that You live for the honor and glory of God Not the honor and glory of yourself live purposefully then live proactively not reactively those who know their God Daniel 11 32 will display strength and Take action live Proactively that is you live as a leader lives You live making decisions You live Proactively you don't live passively.

You don't sit back on the sidelines and wait to be asked. No you lead the way You lead the way when it comes to spiritual maturity You lead the way when it comes to confronting sin you you lead the way when it comes to loving your brother You lead the way when it comes to Apologizing you lead the way when it comes to doing the work you need to do as a man as an adult man That's what it means to live proactively you display strength You take action and you do that because you know God You know God And we told you last week that those who don't know God don't display strength and don't take action That's a simple biblical truth because the more you know God then the more proactive you become for the things of God to honor God and Then we told you number three you live prayerfully You live prayerfully as what's this custom our Lord?

would pray Luke 22 in the Garden of Gethsemane Earlier that night. He prayed the high priestly prayer in John 17 for his men Because he lived a life of prayer That's why he said men are always to pray and and not to faint you live prayerfully Communing with the Living God that you might honor and glorify his name. That was last week So we picked that up to help you understand that To act like men then you must live You must live powerfully Powerfully if you live prayerfully you will live Powerfully This was a main topic of the Apostle prayers Apostle Paul's prayers for people Remember in Ephesians chapter 1 verse number 18.

The Apostle Paul said these words as he prayed for those in Ephesus He said I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened that you will know What is the hope of his calling? What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the surpassing greatness of his power? toward us who believe These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might I mean to Delve into that and to understand the implications that prayer is Absolutely amazing and then in chapter 3 verse number 16.

He says this he says in verse 14 for this reason I bow my knees before the Father From whom every family in heaven on earth derives his name that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be Strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man Paul one of the Church of Ephesus of Ephesus to be strengthened in the inner man to experience the power of the Living God the mature man lives Powerfully one of my favorite books of the Bible is the book of 2nd Timothy Paul's last letter to his beloved son Timothy in the faith and in that letter He gives him one commendation in four chapters only one One commendation in the entire book or letter and then He gives him a series of admonitions and exhortations Because he was concerned about Timothy he would become now the pastor at the Church of Ephesus Paul had begun the church and now he had stepped aside in young Timothy.

He was about 35 years of age Would be that pastor and he had already told him in 1st Timothy 4 verse number 12 Let no one despise your youth But set yourself up as an example For those who follow in your love and your faith your speech your purity your conduct So that people will know that you live the life of faith But Timothy had become timid He had become Cowardly and weak Paul was concerned about that and so he says to him in 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse number 7 for God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and discipline Before that in verse 5 he commends Timothy because of the faith that he knew was in his mother and grandmother and now was in Him, but that's the only commendation he gives the rest of the book is about exhortations admonitions Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus Timothy Timothy you need to step up to the plate.

You need to be the man. God wants you to be You can't afford to be sheepish. You can't afford to be weak. You got to be the strong man You've got to be the leader by example You need to flee youthful us second of the 222 because Timothy if that's a hindrance to you, you've got to put that aside You need to be able to live a powerful life because God did not give you a spirit of timidity But a spirit of power love and self-discipline to discipline your life To be able to love God and love others But on top of that to live a very powerful life for the glory and honor of the king You know, it's so easy to fall into the realm of timidity Remember way back in genesis chapter 12 Abraham became fearful and timid When there was a famine in the land of canaan, he fled to egypt and he told his wife sarah that she needed to tell the king that She was his sister So that it would go well for him abraham.

He was afraid he might die He operated out of fear How many men manipulate their wives To say things and do things out of their own fear That's the way abraham was and if you go back to first samuel chapter 16 and first samuel chapter 17 and the life of David the life of saul Saul the first king of israel, but the spirit of god had departed from saul Because it was disobedience And the spirit of the lord would come mightily upon upon david That's first samuel 16 in first samuel 17 You had the encounter with goliath And saul is completely afraid Why?

Because the spirit of the lord had departed from him He no longer had the spirit of power residing within him david had the spirit of power residing in him And therefore he was not afraid of goliath even though he was a teenage boy This man had defied the armies of the living god And while everyone else was afraid young david Was not afraid And he went to battle he won because the lord delivered goliath into david's hands Why? Because he was guided by the spirit of power the spirit of god Remember peter Peter was the man who confessed thou art the christ the son of the living god Though all men deny you I will never deny you lord.

I am i'm the leader of the 12 I will stand by you. I will be there for you through thick or thin and until until Until that evening When there was a little girl in the courtyard outside caiaphas's house Who accused him of being with the galilean Not a fear He denied the lord For those of you who have been with me to israel, we sit outside the house of caiaphas in that courtyard area And we sit there and we go through peter's denials To show you how this man Who had professed so much Was unable to stand against the testimony of a little girl Where was his power Remember the spirit of the lord had not come upon peter yet And he had received the promise earlier that night John 14 When christ told him not let don't let your heart be troubled But he was going to send another comforter just like himself who would be in them see But until that time peter outside the presence of christ Was a fearful man But everything would soon change for peter Because the spirit of god would come upon him And he would become a powerful man Forget your bible turn to act chapter 1 just for a moment Act chapter 1 This is so beautiful tom few with us on wednesday night talked about this as he was giving the eight days of hope report and Taking us back to act chapter 1 and in the power of god and how we are to be witnesses Both in jerusalem and samaria and the uttermost parts of the world even in judea We are we are to be god's witnesses But remember the scene christ had had spent 40 days Talking to his men about things pertaining to the kingdom It was all about the kingdom Now all the things that we said we don't know but we know that he talked to them about things pertaining to the kingdom of god And they were ready for the kingdom to come They did not know that the return of christ Would be well at this point 2 000 years away At least 2 000 years away they had no idea They thought it could be next week next month.

Maybe next year Could be anytime So they asked the question They asked a question that was on everybody's mind after christ had spent 40 days talking to them about things pertaining to the kingdom They said in verse 6 lord. Is it at this time? You are restoring the kingdom to israel. Now.

Why did they ask that question? because the same spirit That was in them before the resurrection Was in them after the resurrection And what was that spirit? that spirit of self-glory That spirit of the opportunity to rule because christ told them that they would sit on 12 thrones and they would rule over Egypt, I mean israel, excuse me. Israel the land of israel god's people And they were excited about that Well now christ spends 40 days talking to them about things pertaining to the kingdom And so the question naturally is well, are you gonna do it now?

Because we're ready to sit on our 12 thrones. We're ready to rule We're ready to reign with you We're ready to tell people what to do Will you allow us to do that? And christ responds by saying this It is not for you to know times or epics, which the father is fixed by his own authority But you will receive power When the holy spirit has come upon you And you shall be my witnesses both in jerusalem and in all of judea and samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth He says listen Don't be concerned About ruling with me in eternity As much as you should be consumed Consumed With revealing me to humanity That's the point you're so concerned about ruling with me in eternity Instead of being consumed With revealing me to humanity They need to know who I am So to do that You're going to receive not something but someone I'm going to give you power And that power is going to come because the holy spirit of god that's going to reside within you and you shall be My martyres you shall be my witnesses you shall be My martyrs you shall die for me But the power of god will be in you And sure enough everything about the life of peter changed Because when you get to acts 3 And all through the book of acts peter's life is an example of extreme power Why?

Because the spirit of god would reside within him And he would be the one when christ said in caesarea philippi. I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven I'll give you the keys to open the door to the gentile world that they might see the beauty and the glory of the christ It's all going to come to fruition throughout the book of acts And peter's life was a powerful life all the apostles who had denied him now live powerful lives Because the spirit of god was in them so paul Paul refers back to this in telling timothy timothy god's not giving us a spirit of timidity What a power love self-discipline There there is no excuse for you timothy to just take a step back There's no excuse for you timothy not to lead There's no excuse for you timothy to engage in sinful behavior.

There's no excuse for you timothy to Get off the hook In terms of your responsibility Because god gave you a spirit of power You must walk in the spirit so you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh you just must rely upon all that god says Living a very powerful life And sure enough, they would have to have the power of god in order to evangelize the world, right?

In an act 17 verse number six. These are the ones who have turned the world upside down Wow Because of the spirit of god within them they had turned the world upside down and I ask you whose world are you turning upside down? What place of employment are you turning upside down what school are you turning upside down? Because you see the power of god was so prevalent in these men's lives that wherever they went cities were turned upside down Because of the power of god in their lives. That's a very powerful statement But they would need the power of god to evangelize the world.

They would need the power of god to endure suffering Right paul talks about that in second corinthians as he talks about the power of god The surpassing greatness of the power of god in his own life that he could go through persecutions and sufferings and all kinds of snake bites and all kinds of Difficulties and distresses because the power of god was in him And all these men would have to endure suffering and they did They did Because the power of god in their lives On top of that not only the power of god to evangelize the world and to endure suffering But also to energize each and every aspect of their ministry Paul says to this end I labor striving according to the power of god within me colossians 1 verse number 29 I can only do this because god's power is in me And then They were needed to execute the will of god Philippians chapter 2 paul says it is god whose work in you both the will and the do of his good pleasure to execute god's will in your sphere of influence to evangelize your sphere of influence to endure persecution and suffering in your sphere of influence To be able to do what god's called you to do.

You cannot do it without the spirit of god can't And so we wonder why we as believers Are so impotent in our efforts It's because we operate so much in the energy of the flesh It's not by might it's not by power. It's by my spirit says the lord. Zechariah 4 verse number 6 It's through the spirit of god that these things happen And and to act like a man you live powerfully why because you're walking in the spirit So you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh you're you're living the life of The power of god manifesting itself through you because you cannot do it on your own You can't do anything on your own in the spiritual realm It's all about the power of the living god being manifested in the life of an individual And as men we lead the way for our families.

We show them what that looks like So our children can be strong in the faith when they go to school When they go off to college when they get married when they have their children We have modeled that to them so they can glean from that example What it means to walk in the spirit and live for the glory and honor of god live powerfully Next Number five You need to live Productively If you live prayerfully you will live powerfully if you live powerfully You will live Productively in this john 15 verse number eight is my father glorified That you bear much fruit In this is my father glorified not that you just bear fruit But you bear much fruit You live a productive life for the glory and honor of the king So to live productively means you bear fruit to bear fruit means well the fruit of the spirit.

This is 5 22 23, right? The the fruit of the spirit the attitudes of love and joy and and peace and gentleness and kindness And and self-control those things are being exhibited in your life. That that's one aspect of fruit But but also there is the fruit of righteousness The outward acts of the believer that manifests an inward reality of my relationship with the living god They are the as paul says in hebrews 12 the peaceful fruit of righteousness John the baptist would say that the pharisees bring forth fruit equal with your repentance If you've repented of your sin Then there's a fruit that's being seen Because you're a child of the living god And so we know We know that there's an attitude of fruit There's an action of fruit because of my righteousness also, did you know that that when you give Sacrificially it's called fruit And this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit and the bible says these words in romans 15 28 Therefore when I have finished this and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs I will go on by way of you to spain Paul referring to the monetary gift that those in rome had given to the needy in jerusalem.

It was called fruit The fruit that you have given Sacrificially from your love. He also says he also says in philippians 4 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account What is that? The fruit that was evident because they gave to the ministry of the apostle paul So fruit and this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit That fruit is seen in my attitude in terms of the fruit of the spirit It's seen in my actions as the fruit of righteousness It's also seen in in my giving patterns because I give to those in need Sacrificially it's called fruit And then did you know that that when someone comes to saving faith new converts are called fruit When you share christ with others and they give their life to christ It says in act 16 verse number 15 The apostle referred to the household of stefanus stefanos as the first fruits of aki In romans chapter 1 verse number 13 paul says I do not want you to be unaware brethren that often I have planned to come To you and have been prevented so far so that I may obtain some fruit among you Also, even as among the rest of the gentiles What is fruit?

Fruit is people coming to saving faith So the lord Says to the disciples And this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit You live a productive life Because you're sharing christ with others others are coming to to know christ You are you are giving to those in need because it is part of fruit bearing You are bringing forth the fruit of righteousness So people can see that you truly belong to the living god You exhibit the the attitude of fruit of love and joy and peace and in long suffering and kindness and gentleness and self-control because The spirit of god's within you see that This goes back to to living purposefully to the glory and honor of god, right You're living for his glory.

Well, and this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit So to live purposefully is to live productively For the honor and glory of the king see that Now here's the key ready john 15 verse number 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit. He takes away in every branch that bears fruit He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit This is the good stuff There's a pruning process a pruning process that god the father uses To cut away and to remove any obstacle or any hindrance To living a pure and righteous life to the glory and honor of god Every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit he throws away because that branch does not Exemplify christ, but every branch In me that bears fruit.

I prune So it bears more fruit see god's not interested in you just bearing fruit He wants you to bear much fruit God is not up in heaven saying good job Good job. He doesn't want you to do a good job He wants you to do a great work a great job. Not a good job He wants you to do a great job So he doesn't want you to bear fruit. He wants you to bear much fruit. So what you do he he prunes Every branch in him So that will bear more fruit He cuts away removes any obstacle any hindrance That will slow you down in the fruit bearing process That is a great thing because That involves Pain That involves suffering Persecution Adversity Trials and difficulty Because suffering persecution trials are the handle in the father's hand To the knife he uses to remove those things That keep you from being all that god wants you to be You see God wants you to be just like him And will stop at nothing to make sure you get there That's why there's that ultimate sanctification But we will be like him when we go to heaven But in the meantime god doesn't sit idly by and just let you Flounder in your christian life.

No, he wants you to bear much fruit So what does god do He sets out To shatter Your independence from him to establish your dependence upon him Because the more dependent you are upon him the more fruit you will bear for him and so god is going to do that Christ is seldom a reality Until he first of all becomes a necessity And for most people we live lives Without christ as an absolute necessity in our lives In fact one man said it this way the greatest hindrance to your ministry the greatest hindrance to your marriage the greatest hindrance to your church The greatest hindrance to your own spiritual growth is not others but yourself You think the greatest hindrance to your marriage is your spouse don't you don't shake your head You think the greatest hindrance to your to your marriage is your spouse it's not it's you You think the greatest hindrance to your church is your pastor It's you It's you You think the greatest hindrance in your ministry Is that person in the back who always is a rabble rouser There's a problem for you.

No, that's not the greatest hindrance. It's you It's you it's always you why because if you live purposefully You live for the glory and honor of god's glory and honor god in every situation That you might put him on display Well see god knows that So he goes to work on your character He goes to work on your life all those things that hinder you from being what you need to be in your life He removes There's that great illustration in james one I had a a professor in college who's who wrote his dissertation for his doctorate on the book of james And he would he would every time he preached in chapel he preached on james I mean, I mean we had james coming out the ears man.

It was all about james But he always used that same illustration james chapter one When he says that the testing of your faith or the proving of your faith Produces something magnificent He'd always go into the historical background of greek words drove us crazy, but he always did And it enlightened us to so many things So he said, you know that that that historical background to that word to prove or to test Comes comes from a a goldsmith Who would take this huge melting pot? And then take a a hunk of crude ore and throw it in the melting pot And as that melting pot was Full of heat and rising rapidly The impurities from that ore would rise to the top.

He did that big spatula. He'd remove all the impurities And then he'd lean over the pot and look in to see if he could see clearly his face If he couldn't see clearly his face he would turn the heat up some more So more impurities would rise to the top And he'd take that big spatula. He'd remove all those impurities Then look down again into that melting pot to see if he could see clearly his reflection in that melting pot Until he did he kept turning up the heat turning up the heat turning up the heat That's the exact same thing god does in our lives He just keeps turning up the heat Until he can see clearly his reflection in his children That's the christian life That's john 15 That's james 1 that's hebrews 12 Hebrews 12 About the discipline that god does on the lives of his children Because he loves them so much so they will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness He wants them to be able to yield much fruit so he disciplines his children that that might happen in their lives Some of you Are experiencing that at this moment That Adversity that trial that persecution that hardship that difficulty comes in various forms in various ways to different people It's not the same for everybody It's not But the end product Is always the same So there would be an exact representation Of god So that you be an effective representative Of god That's why joe said when he has tried me I shall come forth as what gold Gold See god does this in different ways Let me give you one illustration life of moses Moses was raised in the greatest educational system in the history of man Better than our educational system today Moses was raised in the in in the educational the best educational system in the history of man he was an exceptional wise individual He had authority he had ability he had tenacity he had loyalty he had everything that he needed except one key element He did not have intimacy with the living god And so at 40 years of age He believed he could pull off the exodus in his own power in his own strength So when he killed an egyptian He thought that that would be a way to to rally the the israelites around his leadership because he was strong and powerful and wise And educated he was the man He was self-assured he was self-confident he was self-sufficient he had everything he needed He had power and authority leadership ability had it all That israel would not follow him They couldn't figure it out So he fled To the world that he had been in the school of man But the school of man can never give you what the school of god gives you Don't ever underestimate the school of god And never overestimate the school of man The school of man can never give you what the school of god gives you And so god drove him into the wilderness for 40 years 40 years on the backside of the desert the school of god is always the backside of the desert in obscurity Where no one knows your name?

And so he married this beautiful woman Jethro with his father-in-law He tended a sheep He knew all the sheep's name but nobody knew his name Till one day 40 years later God shows up In a burning bush and speaks for the bush that's not consumed with fire This is moses moses And moses says here I am And he walks toward the bush and god speaks and talks about how he's seen the affliction of his people And he's coming down to deliver them And moses you're the man and moses says got the wrong guy. Oh different attitude 40 years ago.

It said oh i'm the guy I'm the man you can count on me Just tell me where to go. I'm there now. He says got the wrong guy You must have made a mistake No, you're the man moses. No, sorry. I can't speak I can't do anything. I'm not eloquent enough. Well 40 years later earlier. He was eloquent He had all the authority and ability he had it all 40 years ago Now he has nothing because god stripped him of his self-reliance god stripped him of his self-confidence god stripped him of his Self-sufficiency god says you need me and until you come to the place where you need me I can't use you And that's why sometimes god doesn't use you because you haven't got to that place yet When you get to that place god says now you're ready Now you're ready And moses finally went god's anger had to burn against him because of his unavailability He didn't make himself available and anger the lord burned against him but god would use him and when he led the children of israel Because now he goes back and now the children of israel are ready to follow him Why because god's spirit was upon him and god's power was manifested through him and now they're ready to follow 40 years earlier They weren't ready to follow that man, but now they're ready Now they're ready he leads them out And they get to the beach of the red sea And pharaoh's armies Coming down upon them And the people Want to die why are we here?

And what does moses say? Stand still And see what god will do 40 years earlier. It was watch what I can do But now it stands still and watch What god will do the egyptians that you see? You will no longer see and you know the story Because you've seen the movie You read the book they went through on dry land pharaoh's army was destroyed His leadership was manifested in the greatest leader in israel's history See god breaks a man God shatters man's independence from him To establish that man's dependence upon the living god It's called the pruning process Because god never ever says to you that's a good job Because good's never good enough He wants you to do a great job So what's he doing?

Every branch in him that bears fruit. He prunes just cuts away cuts away cuts away Removes this hindrance. Maybe it's a relationship. He has to remove he'll do that He'll remove the relationship because that relationship is a hindrance to your growth and your ability To to to manifest the greatness of god in your life. And so god removes the relationship But whatever it is that hinders you from being all that god wants you to be God will remove that Because god wants you totally dependent upon him for everything And when you are Ah, you live productively Act like men live purposefully proactively prayerfully live a life Powerfully Live a life productively for the glory and honor of the king.

Let me pray with you Lord, you're a great god We serve a great god you said You said greater works We will do wow Greater works Because Of the power of god in us In the extent of that ministry around the world to tell people about christ Our prayer lord is that you'd go before us That we live in the power of the holy spirit manifesting itself in and through us And that lord you'd remove those things in our lives that are hindrance to us being used by you for your glory That we might truly manifest your presence To those we come in contact with we pray In jesus name.

Amen