TRUTH OVER TREND Part 5: What is a Man?

(1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV) Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

Responding to Culture’s Messaging to Men

“Embrace your .”

Genesis 1:27 (NIV) So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

“Masculinity is and needs to be .”

Psalm 82:3-4 (NIV) Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

“Fatherhood is .”

Malachi 4:6 (NIV) He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents.

“Real men don’t .”

John 11:35 (NIV) Jesus wept.

“Men don’t need .”

Proverbs 27:17 (ESV) Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

God’s Design for Manhood

1. Men have a . Boys live at a time.

Proverbs 29:18 (NIV) Where there is no vision, the people perish.

2. A man . A boy .

Proverbs 12:11 (NIV) Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 (NIV) If you don’t work, you don’t eat.

Matthew 5:17 (NIV) My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.

3. A man works for the . A boy plays for the .

Philippians 2:3 (NIV) Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.

2 Samuel 11:1-2 (NIV) In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing.

4. A man is a . A boy is a .

Psalm 82:3-4 (NIV) Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

5. Men take a position. Boys need to be in the .

2 Samuel 6:21-22 (NIV) David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

The Father

An from a physical,

spiritual, or other father.

John 14:6,8 (NIV) Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Atheism – I have no father.

Agnosticism – I may or may not have a father.

Deism – I have a dad, but he doesn’t care about me.

Liberalism – God is a permissive dad.

Feminism – We’ve been so hurt by men, we are going to worship God as mother.

John 14:18 (NIV) I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

The Spirit

Manifests as either or .

Romans 8:14-15 (Ph) All who follow the leading of God’s Spirit are God’s own sons. Nor are you meant to relapse into the old slavish attitude of fear—you have been adopted into the very family circle of God and you can say with a full heart, “Father, my Father”.