A Man’s Fight – Purity

A Man’s Fight – Purity

     A pure life is a righteous life. . . So how do you acquire spiritual purity? By having a relationship with Jesus Christ. After you have received salvation from your sin through Christ’s sacrifice you still have “junk” to deal with in your life and the Holy Spirit will be there to help you deal with it. By renewing your mind daily in the Word, the Holy Spirit will realign your focus to Christ. It is this relationship with the Holy Spirit as the re-aligner, the counselor, the guide that will gently direct you toward purity if you let Him.

     In the realm of physical purity, you will need to fight a battle and run to Christ for your strength. There are some great authors such as Joshua Harris and Elizabeth Eliot who have written extensively on this topic, please check their books out for deeper study about purity. However, by taking captive your lustful thoughts and making them obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) you can start fighting for your mental purity and this in turn can aid you in keeping your physical purity (i.e. not having sex outside of marriage or being involved in physical relationships with women or men).Temptation will come and urge you to give up your purity, but the temptations are not sin. It is when you dwell on, worry about, or fantasize about a lustful temptation or thought that you sin. When temptation comes, remember to run to the Lord and ask Him for help and the Holy Spirit will direct you on what to do from there (He may do this by bringing Scriptures to mind that you have familiarized yourself with on purity). Keep standing, fight the good fight, finish the race!

Your notes on the subject:

A Man’s Fight – Provider

A Man’s Fight – Provider

      Since the time of Adam, men have put food on the table for their families. Men have worked hard, selflessly, and humbly. They have served, fought wars, and led armies to provide protection and a life for their family. But providing is more than protection and money, it is supporting the members of your family, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and socially. Providing isn’t easy, but you have an opportunity to know your true providing character because it is tested every time you step into the shoes of a man.

In what ways are you a provider now? If you’re not, will you begin to prepare to be a provider?

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 Your notes of the subject:

A Man’s Fight – Family

A Man’s Fight – Family

    You will have the responsibility to lead your future family one day; that is, assuming that you marry, and some personal preparation will go a long way. You can acquire this by studying the Scriptures and observing your own family and your friend’s families to learn how they function. However, if the families you observe do not line up with the principles of the Bible you must reject them as your model of family. One key need/component of a family is spending time with them. This “time factor” will become increasingly more difficult when school gets tougher and when work seems to always be piling up. It will be easy to get frustrated with so much to do and have a family, but there is a way to escape that crazy frustration. The way of escape is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus can give you the strength to make it through the frustrating stuff, the key is trusting and focusing on Him (Matt. 6:33—look it up). It will not always be easy, but persevere anyway!

Stay true to Christ first, and everything else He has for you will come in good time.  –this is true! Check out: Matthew 6:33

Your notes on the subject:

A Man’s Fight – Lust

A Man’s Fight – Lust

    Lust is passionately wanting (desiring) something that is contrary to God’s will so badly that you feel like you will die without it. We can shorten the definition to an ungodly desire. To clarify, we can desire the things of God as we delight ourselves in His Word and, as a result, desire the right things as the Lord purifies our hearts (Psalm 37:4). Or we can desire (lust) the things that are not of God like greed, pride, premarital sex, and revenge. This particular battle becomes harder the older you get, because you begin to desire more things that are contrary to the will of God. The only way to be ready then is to start the battle now. Stand up Young Men of God!

    God will be with you, but you have to stand against the temptation to lust and actively fight against those wrong desires (1 Cor. 10:12-13; 2 Cor. 10:2-5). You can win with God!

Your notes on the subject:

A Man’s Fight – Truth

A Man’s Fight – Truth

    Defending the True Truth is usually very difficult. But how will we know the truth if we don’t know The Truth, the One who gives and is Truth? The answer is: we can’t! God wants to know you personally, as your closest friend, but building a friendship like that takes time and a lot of commitment. Will you begin to pursue Him with a commitment to learn His Truth? Why or why not?

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    We will be deceived unless we know the One who will show us truth. That One is, Jesus, the root of all Truth (John 14:6).  If we get to know Him and are willing to seek Him, studying and working to build our relationship with Him, He will show us Himself to us and we will acquire truth. But the key question that I want you to keep in mind is: will I give everything up to obey Christ? If you are willing to say yes to that and truly live by that answer, then God can do wonders through you and to you because have surrendered your will. He does not force us to obey Him. We have a choice and that choice determines if we will know the True Truth.

Your notes on the subject:

A Man’s Fight – Against Revenge

A Man’s Fight – Against Revenge

Scripture: Romans 12:19-21

    We all like to get back at the people that annoy us or hurt us. But that intense desire to slap someone back is revenge. And revenge is not our responsibility. Yes, we are to defend, but there is a point where defense ends and revenge picks up the bat or the gun and goes the next dangerous step because of our hate.

Do you struggle with Revenge?

Yes               No 

    As Christians, we must forgive (Matt. 6:14-15). This does not mean that we agree with everybody’s choices or lifestyle. But it does mean that we understand that our ultimate battle our ultimate battle is not against the people of this world, but the spiritual evils that attack it and rule it. The battle will not end until Christ sets up His eternal kingdom.

Do you agree?

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    In short, we don’t have to worry about getting even, because our God is a just God and if He wills it, He will punish the other person on this earth, but shouldn’t we ask Him to have mercy on that person, that they will repent, like Christ did to His persecutors, instead of cursing or asking hell upon them? We should not take joy and happiness in seeing those we dislike suffer; but we should rejoice when God Providentially wages war on our behalf against the evil that we face. For example stealing is wrong, period. God has that rule to protect us and to enable us to live a life that is much more fulfilling than always looking over our shoulder in fear. Let’s let Him take the vengeance.

Your notes on the subject:

A Man’s Fight – Defender

A Man’s Fight – Defender

    As men, we are to defend the truth and those that cannot defend themselves. And just because you might not be a “full grown” man doesn’t mean that you can’t defend truth and others. When a soldier goes off to war, he does not have to only defend his country, but his family, his beliefs, and those whom he will never meet.

A defender is willing to give his life for the cause and the people that he defends. This is an intense battle and it rages every day as men make decisions which will impact their future and the futures of those whom they will never meet.

Are you a defender?

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Your notes on the subject:

God’s leading to a future spouse—Gen. 24 Isaac and Rebekah

God’s leading to a future spouse—Gen. 24 Isaac and Rebekah    REMEMBER THIS!

     This passage is encouraging. God works miraculously to bring a guy his future wife, as well as, a gal to her future husband! This story shows us that we don’t have to worry about “the ladies.” We just need to follow God (RE-read Matt. 6:33) and He provides the rest, how amazing!

     Unfortunately, few people live out the belief that God is in charge of their love stories. Many times, people will take this area of life into their own hands to have fun, chase romance, or follow their hearts. All three of those reasons why people take romance into their own hands are Biblical violations. They are selfish responses to how they live their lives. Be careful not to go down a road where you take romance into your own hands; instead, just trust God and wait for Him to move, because He will direct us to His will.

Your notes on the subject

A Man’s Fight – Work and Laziness

A Man’s Fight – Work and Laziness

    Each man has a fight to pick with laziness. But he also has a fight to pick with work. You see, a man can work too much, making his work an idol.

Another Angle

    Often times, we are entertained by our video games and technology so much that we neglect our responsibilities around the home and, sometimes, even our personal cleanliness. We like to beat the six hundredth level of Game Boy’s newest release or we want to build Legos all day long, so we put off our chores, school work, and, at times, even our regular time with God. This type of lifestyle is simply called laziness and it has to go if we want to get anywhere in our life, especially spiritually.

Your notes on the subject:

A Man’s Fight – A Regular Devotion Time

Lesson 2, a Man’s Fights

A Man’s Fight – A Regular Devotion Time

    Sometimes it bores us to read the Bible. We think, “Why would I waste the time to read the Bible and pray? I can do that stuff at church.”  This thinking is false. If we truly love our Lord and Savior then why do we not spend time with Him?

    We need to realize that as we study the Bible we can learn about the Lord and how He wants us to live. As we pray, read the Bible, intercede, ask, petition, and wait in silence we can know the Lord! Knowing the Lord personally and having Him speak to you is why a regular devotion time is so important. Without it we can easily get sidetracked and forget God’s truth and be deceived by falsehood. We must be in the Bible to have our minds renewed and transformed to be like Christ’s! However, heed this warning: do not lean on your own understanding as you read the Word, but allow the Holy Spirit to teach you its application to your life as you read it.

Your notes on the subject:

Work for Growth, Lesson 1

Bible Readings and description:

Work (personal assignment) For Growth

Read

V  Gen 1:26-3:24 ~ Creation of Man to the Fall of Humankind

V  Gen. 11:1-9 ~ Mankind’s attempt for Fame: Babel

V  Gen. 12 ~ God’s Calling of Abram (Note: God later changes Abram’s ( meaning “High Father”) name to Abraham “Father of a Multitude.” These name meanings are taken from Hitchcock’s Dictionary of Bible Names)

V  Gen. 14 ~ Abram rescues Lot

V  Gen. 19:1-29 ~ God saves His own from the Destruction of the two Wicked Cities

V  Gen. 24 ~ God’s working on our behalf in meeting the One we will marry (Note: we will come back to this Scripture passage later.)

V  Gen. 32:22-32 ~ Jacob wrestles with God, (Note: I am not advocating wrestling against sww

V  God’s power.)

The Importance of Work

The Importance of work

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”  1 Timothy 5:8 KJV              

    We have a responsibility to work. From the time of Adam to Jesus Christ to right now, men have been working and fulfilling the providing desire and mandate that God has given them.  Maybe, just maybe, we are joyful when we do the will of our Father.

Think about what work is:

School is work, earning money is work, chores are work, serving at church is work, etc . . .

What types of work do you like? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What type of work do you dislike?

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What work do you, personally, need to work on? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Biblical Manhood--the Toolbox

Watch video of The Toolbox  here: https://sites.google.com/site/biblicalmanhood2013/

(The Toolbox is a special feature of the Biblical Manhood study which is only given when the author presents this study in a seminar and/or class setting.)

The Foundation of Biblical Manhood

Lesson 1, the Foundation & The importance of work

 

Starting off:

personally knowing Jesus Christ intimately – our foundation

Scripture:

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.  For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 1 Corinthians 3:9-15 KJV

 

     Having received Jesus Christ and having a relationship with Him is the foundation of Biblical Manhood. If a boy wants to become a man, he must learn from someone, and he will almost always regards this person as a role model and mentor. However, the best role model is not a human, He is Jesus Christ. From Him, a boy can learn humility, true-strength, trust, faith, integrity, patience, honesty, self-control, determination, and more.

Finding Truth

You never discover truth; truth is revealed. --Experiencing God, Blackaby

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Gal 4:10-11 (KJV)

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 15:13 (KJV)

Depend on God

Depend on God

Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
1 Peter 2:17 (KJV)

As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
1 Peter 2:16 (KJV)

For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men
1 Peter 2:15 (KJV)

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; 14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
1 Peter 2:13-14 (KJV)

Work for Growth, Lesson 6

Work (personal assignment) For Growth

V  James 1:2-27 ~ Hard Times, Temptation, and the importance of both Listening and Doing

V  James 2   ~ No Special Treatment for Certain People and Faith requires Deeds: the two are Inseparable

V  James 3 ~ Our Tongue a Problem and God’s Wisdom or Man’s?

V  James 4 ~ Submitting to Our Lord and Boasting Trouble

V  James 5 ~ Oppressive People, have Patience when you are Suffering, and having Faith in Prayer

Biblical Manhood Series

Hello Everyone!

   We will be releasing Biblical Manhood section by section over the next month+. This curriculum was originally taught by Ryan Marks in the Spring of 2011. It is currently being edited and prepared to be released as a book. We hope that you will be blessed by these devotions. Please pass them on to young men you know!
   Our Biblical Manhood ministry can be followed at sites.google.com/site/biblicalmanhood2013


God bless!
 

God's Word

Take God's Word as what it is: perfect, without error, and eternally true.

Leadership Tip

Leadership tip: review. Take time to process info; not just keep throwing new in.

Success isn't a title

Success isn't a title, but being obedient to what the Lord told you.

Though Bite

Not every open door is from God. Get counsel, seek God!

Thought Bite

Re-energizing/balance tip: sabbaticals--time alone with The Lord to think and plan and listen to His Will and Word

An Abomination to Whom?

An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.

Prov 29:27 (KJV)

    When you live righteously, there will be wicked people who think you stink. It is because you are an abomination to the wicked. In addition a just man is detested by the unjust man’s decisions.

Our Judgment (outcome in life) is from the Lord

Many seek the ruler's favour; but every man's judgment cometh from the Lord.

Prov 29:26 (KJV)

     Our judgment, the outcome of our trials and tribulations comes from the Lord. Whether they be hard or easy, the Lord works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28)! Amen!

Scriptrure to Contemplate

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
Prov 29:25 (KJV)

THE WORD OF GOD IS THE WILL OF GOD

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

John 1:1-4 (KJV)

   Jesus Christ is the Word of God. As my pastor says, “the Bible is the Word wrapped in print and Jesus is the Word wrapped in flesh.”

    Many times people talk about the will of God, my first question would be what does the Bible say about that? There are principles in the Bible that apply to EVERYTHING. Seek the Lord, but don’t forget to search His Word.