Who are you following!

1. There is a need for worship in our lives. As men we must take our rightful place before the Lord and worship Him. We have waited too long for someone else to take us before the Lord when we can take ourselves. Not even Jesus can take us before the Lord God if we will not worship Him. PS. 150:

Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
² Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
³ Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre.
⁴ Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
⁵ Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

We have been commanded to praise the Lord, when we don’t we are sinning before God. As men we must do everything within the power given us to care for our families and homes. If we don’t build a relationship with God and fortify that relationship with praise we are allowing the walls to be penetrated with ungodly things. This is just one step to getting closer to God. No mentor can build this relationship, this is something we must do for ourselves.

2. Prayer is the food that builds the spirit. Prayer brings the spirit in you closer to the Spirit of God. God formed man and blew into him the spirit of life. In other words He (God) placed a small piece of Himself in you. There by placing Himself on earth to watch over it. However, we need to be refreshed daily with His spirit to keep the piece in us strong. Remember in Geneses God walked daily in the garden with Adam before the fall. Well God still desires to walk with us daily. It is one reason He created us, to commune with Him. It is now our responsibility to talk with God daily. In talking with Him we get a better understanding of what we are to do. It brings a better understanding of our purpose. We can read the bible but the best understanding comes when God tells us what it means. Listen to this; Exodus 33: ¹¹ So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle. ¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people.' But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.'
¹³ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people."

3. Every man that desire to be a Godly man must read the word of God. Think about it, when you watch your favorite show on TV, football or soap. Why do you watch it? If it is a soap it because you want to know what’s going to happen next. If it is football you want to know who is going to win. In the both settings you want to know the outcome. Well in the bible we get to find out what happens next and who wins. We also get to see what part we get to play. The big difference here is you get to play your roll in real life. The bible, God’s word tells what the rules are and gives you your part in this venture. Why play if you don’t know the rules. The devil has wanted to keep you blind all your life but God wants you to see the road you are on. He wants you to be on the road with Him. He want make you play by His rules but then who’s rules are you playing by if not His? Exodus 33: ¹⁴ And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
¹⁵ Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth." ¹⁷ So the Lord said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name."

4. Walking with a mentor should bring the best and the worst out of us. The worst has kept us blind to everything Godly because we walked by the flesh. The flesh love to do what it wants to do. It doesn’t like to play by the rules. It likes to win and be on top. It doesn’t think about the cost because it doesn’t care about cost. In the mind of the flesh, what can you do to me? We see this in our own minds; hopefully we fight that type of thinking. If we haven’t learned to fight it, now is a good time to start. To walk with a mentor you are asking for help to correct your life and shoot for the greater things God as for you. In the Kingdom of God you as a man must reach for things that God has created for your hands, not the things of your brother. A man that has not been shown how to walk as a man will forever walk as a boy or should I say a state of under development. Never reaching the height he could have attained. Yet, God even in the times of Moses found it within Himself to give mankind a chance to see Him. Exodus 33: ²³ Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen." Exodus 34: ¹ And the Lord said to Moses, "Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.
² So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain.
³ And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain."
⁴ So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.
⁵ Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
⁶ And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

5. We should never think we have it all together. God is the only one that knows all and can do all. God is not a man even though we say He is the man, He is not. He is God and that alone should stand for something. Even if you are not sure if He is your God. He wants to be your God and that’s why His son became the lamb. You know the lamb that was brought forth on your behalf, slain for your sins and died on your behalf. That you might have everlasting life with the Father, our creator. This is a time for you to get your life together by following the Son of God to a place that will carry you through the rough times and the bad times. To a time of everlasting to everlasting in God. Step up to the plate and become the man that God has called you to be.

You can change your life now

The story of the sons of Eli is a story of sadness. Eli a high priest of God fails to stop his sons from rebelling against God. Oh yes they stayed in the house of God but they didn’t follow any of the rules of the house. Their behavior caused the word of God to say they were worthless. If the word of God says you are worthless that bring a clear definition as to who you are severing. These sons were not serving God. They mistreated God’s people and their father didn’t stop them. Yet their father was used to bring up a man that would not walk away from God.

How can a man train up the son of another and miss the mark with his own? This is a story lived out daily around the world. You do not however need to go around the world to see it. You can look as close has the building you work in daily. You can even look in the church you attend every Sunday. Men today are missing the mark with our sons. There are too many sons in gangs while our son’s fathers are not in their lives. There are too many fathers fearful of their sons.

God had spoken of the judgment He would bring against the house of Eli. When God calls Samuel, Eli instructs Samuel to say; speak Lord for your servant is listening. Why didn’t Eli go to God and repent? Why not ask God to spare him? We will never know why but we can stop this from happening to our house. God did not speak much in those days but He is speaking today. We have a chance to turn our lives totally over to Him. We need not act perfect or try to get our lives together before God will work in them. All we need to do is ask God to come into our lives, if we haven’t and that's step one. If we have taken that step we need to ask God to help us become the man He wants us to become. Now ask God to place a man in your life that will help you take the steps you must take to overcome yourself. Hophni and Phinehas never knew God, therefore they never knew God had a purpose for their life. Today I say to you God has a purpose for your life. Are you walking it out or just living life for yourself? God knew when He call Samuel that He was about to judge the life of Eli and his house. Is God about to Judge your life?

I didn’t select you!

God always has a plan for your life even if you don’t it. We as men fail because we don’t follow God’s plan for our life. We often try to take control of our lives because of what we see. We see that our bills need to be paid, so let our tithe giving fall off. We see things that we want and desire and let that overcome good sense. Some of us will fight and overcome great mountains in our lives and then run from the smallest of things. We must learn to trust God and follow His ways for our lives.

¹⁹ So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him.

This is a case of God selecting your replacement. Often in the ways of man we don’t even pray to God about a replacement. We select the one that we think fits the model we want. This doesn’t give you the right to over the one God has sent. He question becomes how do I know? Well if we stay in touch with God and allow him access into our prayer life and stop tell God what and who we want. Then maybe we can see through the eyes of God and select the best man for the job.

The follower doesn’t need to know where they are going they just need to keep up. If you pray to God about a mentor for your life and He sends someone you don’t like get over it. What is it that you want for your life? Do you even know what you want for your life? If you are just praying to God without a point of reference, that’s not God problem. You should work on discover who you are before you start looking for a mentor.

²⁰ He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?"

Get yourself away from me. Never go to your mentor with an excuse. Hey, mom, dad I love you and I will be back but right now I must go. Here Elisha departed home in good standing. If you notice Elisha asked for permission before running off. The reply could have been misunderstood but remember God sent Elijah to Elisha. So Elijah couldn’t just disregard him. However, who said he had to be nice.

²¹ So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.

Elisha destroyed his old life for a new one. How many of us are willing to do this? How often do we try to bring the old life into the new? You want to become a new person but the old man just lives right on in you. We must kill our old self so that our new self will have a place to call home. Clean the old place and start fresh with the word of God in your life. Build a place that He can call home in you.

Take the Risk

There are times when God waits on man to move forward without knowledge of what is before him. We pray to God for understanding but none comes. It is time like this when God allows us to see what is inside of us. Will we give up on what we believe because there is a time of silence in our journey? The processes that we live through bring us understanding of the environment we live in. Walk through the examples of these lives in the word of God and see the risk taken.

Genesis 6:13-14 (NASB)
¹³ Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.
¹⁴ "Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

Think about this for a minute. You are asked to build something never seen in your time. Your friends are all in your family. The people of your city think you are twelve eggs short of a dozen. Yet, you follow God’s instructions and build an ark. You have no real understanding of what is about to happen. You are move in your actions because God said do it. This is not only faith but courage.

Genesis 12:1-3 (NASB)
¹ Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;
² And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
³ And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."

What did you have for dinner? Did you eat a heavy meal before going to sleep? You want to leave your family and all that you know because you heard a voice. You say it was God but you know we all carve our own gods. We make what we believe in and follow. Does this sound familiar? Against all that he knew Abram took his family and went into a land that God would show. He had no knowledge of where he was going. He just went because God said go. Trusting God is a must if you are going to make it through this walk.

Genesis 17:1-5 (NASB)
¹ Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.
² "I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly."
³ Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,
⁴ "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
⁵ "No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Walk before me and be blameless. Do you think you can walk before God and be blameless? The answer is yes. God made a covenant with Abram and mankind. He made a covenant with His son Jesus, who covered all of our wrong doings. What pains have we suffered to save ourselves? Which one of us can cover the sins of another? When was the last time God talked with you? Blameless doesn’t mean that you will be perfect. I means your life’s desire is to please God.

This walk is not a get rich with things, nor is it a filler of our desires. It is a walk that God designed and will get the glory. It is time for us as men to get on the right track and follow the will of God for our lives. Yes it is a risk. Jesus took a risk when He died for you and I. God took a risk when He let it happen. God knew that we wouldn’t always feel His presence and know that He is with us. He knew that we would have moments of weakness. However, God made sure we had everything we needed. All the trust need is in us. All the courage we need is in us. All the faith we need is in us. So why do we hold back? Why do we freeze up when God gives us instructions? Yes it is a risk but it is a risk worth taking. It will bring each of us closer to what God has for us. It is important to understand that God will not give us things to buy us off. We must learn the stories of our brothers in the word of God. God has placed them in there so that we would have a guide to follow. Know that you have courage, faith and wisdom waiting on you. Take it and walk in it so that God can use you in His Kingdom.

God’s intent for man

God created man with the intent of having sons on the earth. As sons were given the rights required to rule and have dominion. God has not changed His intent for man. Although mankind falls, God put salvation place for us. We give our lives to God through Jesus the Christ, the anointed one. Yet we give little thought to becoming the sons of God. However, man spends too much time trying to overcome his sins, when Jesus has covered him in that respect. Jesus died for our sins but we choose to live in them anyway. Think about it for a minute. We ask God to forgive our sins and give us a new life. He does His part but we still live in a condition that we will not let go of. So we created servant position that we could walk in forever. Thereby we serve God and never walk as His Sons. If we walk as His sons then we must walk with the responsibility given to us by God’s hands.

God created man to commune with Him. God wanted us to have a personal relationship Him, and to rule over His kingdom with Him. (Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."). Here God is sharing His rule over earth with man. This truly states that you are the son of God. How you ask, Kings pass their authority on to their sons. God is King and God never dies so, He can pass His legacy on to His sons and watch over them at the same time. He wants us to know the difference between religion and Kingdom, Citizens not church membership. He wants to influence the earth through His sons and extend His government to earth.

We were created to walk as God ambassadors and to bring light to the earth. We are to be His representatives walking as Jesus would walk on the earth. Knowing God’s word gives us the power and strength we need to overcome ourselves. I know the devil is our biggest problem. Well, knowing God’s word gives you power over the devil and who does that leave, you. (Genesis 1:28
God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.") Nowhere in this statement does God say you will have to deal the devil. Yet, the devil dislikes you because of what was given into your hands. Walk as leaders and fathers because this is what the enemy wants to stop you from doing. The devil can only stop you if you allow him. Stop allowing what God gave you to be great to be buried under your feet.

You are men of God and it is time for you to stand up and take back what was given to you. Your children are waiting on you and so is the earth. Take a look at the world today and ask yourself if you like what you see? Come closer and ask yourself if you like what you see in your on cities. There are a great many things going on around us that are not of God and He is waiting on you. We are the sons of God’s and we have the authority to change the things around us if we believe. It is time to believe in who we are and walk as kings.

Gen. 9:7 "As for you, be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it

Men take the lead

In this time of our country we as men have drop the ball of leadership. The young men have few examples of real men. The church is not producing the amount of men needed to fight the battles that is upon us today. To walk as real men, we must change the way we see the world around us and walk as Godly men. We have the power to change our environments but we must first know who we are as men.

Isaiah 3:1-12 (NASB)
¹ For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread And the whole supply of water;
² The mighty man and the warrior, The judge and the prophet, The diviner and the elder,
³ The captain of fifty and the honorable man, The counselor and the expert artisan, And the skillful enchanter.
⁴ And I will make mere lads their princes, And capricious children will rule over them,
⁵ And the people will be oppressed, Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor; The youth will storm against the elder And the inferior against the honorable.
⁶ When a man lays hold of his brother in his father's house, saying, "You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler, And these ruins will be under your charge,"
⁷ He will protest on that day, saying, "I will not be your healer, For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; You should not appoint me ruler of the people."
⁸ For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, Because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, To rebel against His glorious presence.
⁹ The expression of their faces bears witness against them, And they display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.
¹⁰ Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
¹¹ Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him.
¹² O My people! Their oppressors are children, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray And confuse the direction of your paths.

In the past weeks we have talked about what God has given us as men. We talked about the responsibilities that came with the gifts God placed in our hands. These highlights are discussed daily in some fashion are another. The world has become a dominate force in the lives of men today. When I say world I mean the environment that is not ruled by God’s hands. God gave the rule of this world to man but man lost it to Satan. Jesus regained it and restored it into the hands of man. It is still in the hands of man but we just don’t believe it. Jesus opened the doors to the Kingdom and gave us the keys to it. In those keys we have the power and the authority that God gave Adam in the garden. As men must stand with the keys and walk back into our rightful place.

We are the leaders that God made to rule this Earth. We give our lives to Jesus and then we tell Him (Jesus) to do the rest. He did His part, how it is time for us to do our part. We must first take steps in the right direction and we will see Jesus calling us forward. We can no longer wait for someone to point us in the right direction; we must be willing to go after it. Our roles as men are well defined in the Genesis. We must remember that God did not take back what He had given man. God didn’t say, no longer will you lead, God said, he will rule over you (woman)”. This is the first time God made this statement. You must remember that God said “he would rule over you” this is part of the conditions of the curse.

Why is it so hard for us to remember that Jesus walked this entirely out for you and me? Is it because if we do it means taking on responsibility? If we as men set our own rules, then these are the rules we follow. If we follow these rules then we are setting ourselves against God. As true men we accept the responsibilities that come with manhood. We know that the road will be hard but we take it on because we are walking as the sons of the Creator. Sons of the Creator create just like his daddy. If God is your daddy, then create something that God will say about you, have you consider my son _________? The world, the earth and God is waiting on you.

Men as Leaders

In the beginning God gave man a set of instructions. These instructions contain the very essentials of his existence and being. We can find these instructions in Genesis 1 & 2. If man is the creation of God why does he have such a hard time following his creator instructions? We have kick against the words of God since the beginning. If we would stop for a moment and ask ourselves why, the answer would help us step into our rightful place.

In Genesis 1 God created man and gave him authority with instructions on how to use it. Genesis 1:26 (NASB) ²⁶ Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." This all sounds great but Adam was ruler of the kingdom that God had provided for him. God saw fit to provide Adam with someone to help him. Each had a job to preform but Adam was created first making him the responsible one for the environment established by God. (Point one)

In Genesis 2, the plot gets better. Eve is placed before Adam. This doesn’t mean that Adam is to dominate her but he is the point of responsibility. This placed Adam in the leadership role of the environment, which was in the garden. In Genesis (2:16-17 (NASB) ¹⁶ The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
¹⁷ but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." What is this death that God is talk of here? Again in Genesis 2:18 (NASB) ¹⁸ Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." Let’s take a look at helper. What does it mean?

“HELPER (Gk. parakletos, “summoned, called to one’s side”; “Paraclete,” KJV). In the Gk., this word refers to one who pleads another’s cause before a judge; the word is rendered “advocate” in 1 John 2:1 where it is applied to Christ. The NIV translates, “one who speaks . . . in our defense.” When Jesus promised to His sorrowing disciples to send them the Holy Spirit as a “Helper,” He took the title to Himself: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper” (John 14:16; see marg.). The Gk. parakletos applies well to both Jesus and the Spirit. Jesus was eminently a helper to His disciples, teaching, guiding, strengthening, and comforting them; and now that He has gone the Spirit is His substitute to carry on His work in us. In this present age it is, therefore, evident that the Holy Spirit is the believer’s parakletos on earth, indwelling and helping him, whereas Christ is his parakletos in heaven, interceding for him at the Father’s right hand. The New Unger's Bible Dictionary.”

If this is true then Eve was to stand for Adam. She also to perform her duties, these would be duties that Adam wasn’t given. Adam was given the Garden, Genesis 2:15 (NASB)
¹⁵ Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. This says Adam you responsible for this environment. We can see that God Adam a helper in the woman. (She had not been named Eve yet.) Now alone came the snake and set down beside the woman. This is very interesting! Think of it like this, you are Adam. You are naming everything in the garden. This means that you know something about the creatures you are naming. You know that God created everything that you are looking upon. A snake begins to talk with the woman that God presented to you. This snake begins to question what God has said to you. Let’s listen to what was being said.

“Genesis 3:1-6 (NASB)
¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"
² The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"
⁴ The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die!
⁵ "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
⁶ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

Here you are the King of your God given garden and you let one of your subject’s question what was given to you by your creator. Known, He walked and talked with you in the cool of the day. You knew His voice and you let things go to hell.

At what point did you stop believing what your creator told you. At what point did you stop being the leader and become the follower? Where is the man that God created to rules the garden and lead the woman He presented to you? If your house is going to hell it’s because you are leading the way. If your children are falling off the path of righteousness it’s because they don’t trust you. The devil cannot get in your house unless you leave the door open for him. What happen when the woman eat of the tree? Nothing! What happen when Adam eat of the tree? The devil step in and claimed the right to the gifts God had given Adam.

This is what we as men are doing today. We are giving away the rights God gave us through Jesus, the anointed one. However, there’s hope for us still. All we need to do is step into the place Jesus provides for us. Jesus restored us to oneness with God, which gives us everything we lost. We need to step into the place of manhood and stop being lead by the world of darkness. We need to put our faith into action and watch restoration take place in our lives. We are leaders, lead.

The Vision of a man

We are men created in the image of God, yet we are happy with the corner of the fields when we could have the whole field. In other words, why are you happy with want you are told you can have or do, when you have everything that God promised you? Our sons and daughters are missing the mark because we have missed it. Many of us believe we have everything but in our hearts we know this isn’t true. Our wives want more out of life but don’t want to make you feel bad. Our children exist in a world we don’t understand. These are but a few things that are out of place because we are out of place. We are the visionaries with no vision. We have eyes but can only see what is in front of us physically. However, there is more.

In Genesis 1:26 God said "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." ²⁸ God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

This is what God Himself has given us and what are we doing with it? Yes, this is the Old Testament but when did it stop working? God has not removed His word from us but He has re-enforced it through His son Jesus. We were saved in order to complete the tasking God placed on us. Through the completion of this mandate we will learn just who we are on this earth. Yet, we have a problem before us deterring us from walking in our rightful place. Flesh, this is the problem we face daily and it is power by our desires to be someone God did not call us to be. Just as Adam and Eve we are trying to answer the question, I’m I like God?

We have become men living out the purpose of someone other than ourselves. As you read Genesis 1, you see that we were to work together. We were to rule our space, our environment. That environment is our kingdom. God gave us a list of what we were to rule over. Man was not on it. That in itself says we should work together. The word also tells us that we can do anything if we are one. (Genesis 11:6 (NASB) The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. ) In order for us to be one we must first become one within ourselves. Being one within ourselves is not a job we can do on our own. We need God in our life through Jesus.

Man doesn’t like change that is not introduced by his own hands. We must learn to understand that the best change is that which comes from God. The change that comes from God may not feel the best but it is the best for you. Until we walk through the process that God has laid before us we will not see the greatest part of our blessing. Many of us are waiting on God to bless us. We must understand that God has blessed us. We must also understand that God doesn’t have many blessings for us, but a great blessing that keeps on giving.

Brothers, we must understand that God is waiting on us to trust Him. He’s not waiting to bless you, He has already blessed you. We see ourselves as kings and masters of our homes but what good is it if we don’t have the power behind it? Stop dreaming if you are not going to go for it. The dreamer brings forth his vision into purpose; through his purpose he brings forth his vision. What do we believe in? Do we believe that we are created in God’s image, His likeness? If we do, why do we waste our lives trying to be like Him? When you walked in the world you didn’t need anyone to tell who you were you knew it and walked it. It takes the same level of belief, only in someone other than you. We are the biggest problem in our life. We wait for others to tell us we are ready without knowing what is best for us. God has provided all the information we need to discover our identification. He wants us to find ourselves in Him, so we can step into who we are and what we are to do. If we are to rule with Him, shouldn’t we discover what it is we are to rule here and now? Don’t just unpack your suitcase burn it and keep carrying the stuff around with you. Get up and follow your heart, the one God gave you. See your vision with the spiritual eyes God gave you. Walk in who you are!

Genesis 1:29-31
²⁹ Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
³⁰ and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.
³¹ God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Recap from previous classes

Men we suffer from what is called the Wounded Heart. I know your heart is intact and you are just find. Well what are you hiding inside? Many of us think we are the best thing going. This makes it harder to see the real you inside. Most of us think we were born sin free and we developed our sin traits. (Romans 3:9-10 (HCSB) ⁹ What then? Are we any better? Not at all! For we have previously charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin,
¹⁰ as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.)

We as men are drawn to what is not good. It is our nature. Jesus said we must be born again. In the process of being born again, it is impossible for man to convert himself and clean up his life. If this is true how can we consider someone before our self? We cannot unless we have truly allowed God to move within our hearts.

Romans 7:7-12 (HCSB)
⁷ What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.
⁸ And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.
⁹ Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life
¹⁰ and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.
¹¹ For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

Did you know that in the process of Salvation there are 60 steps or phases? If you believe you the man than why did Jesus need to come as a man to save you? Stop for a minute, before you say you gave your life to Christ and you have been baptized. Think about your life since that moment. Have you given all of you life to Christ? No one can hear but God and Jesus, so be true to yourself. We all have held back from Christ a part of ourselves that we like. You know that part that still hold on to being human. (Romans 7:19-20 (NASB)
¹⁹ For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
²⁰ But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me). I didn’t mean to do, I don’t know what came over me.

We must admit that we do not spend the time we need to with God and Jesus. We must allow the Holy Spirit to correct when we are wrong and repent. We can only take the lead when we let Jesus be the Lead in our life. Then we can stand and deal the dark heart we were born into.

Knowing mother wound (Authentic Manhood)

1. The influence of the mother is one of the strongest a son will ever feel.

a. Mothers normally want the best for their sons.

b. Jesus had to deal with His mother.

c. Mary would have stop Jesus from getting on the cross.

2. Mother wound was not meant to harm but to show caring and loving affection.

a. Our mothers would never intentionally harm her children.

b. Mothers have a strong bond to her children.

c. Mother’s bond can hold on too tight.

3. Mothers wound their son by holding on too tightly to her sons. This leads to unhealthy relationship between the mother and the son.

a. This can often be seen in marriages when the mother wants give unwanted input into her son’s home.

b. Another example is when mom asks a question in the form of control.

c. This has a negative impact on the son’s relationship with his wife.

4. We must understand that mothers love their sons and would in no way hurt their son. Often mother is trying to fill-in the missing pieces. Moms just want her son to be safe and protected.

a. When the father is not around or involved in the son’s life, mom trys to fill in.

b. This is the case with many of our young men today.

c. The female – man, this looks all the part of a man but wait on the female to make the decision. Feminized man! Thinks in ways as a woman would do. Defers to the woman!

5. This is a wound of too much involvement, we as men must learn to see the wound before it destroys our lives.

a. These wounds are because men are absent. The teachers are women, the mentors are women.

b. The ignorant mom by default treats her son as a boy.

c. She wakes him in the morning, washes his clothes, and prepares his meals.

d. Needy hurting mom, dad has left so mom makes her son her husband.

e. Unwilling to release, this mom needs to control everything. She pain to a wife because the husband is still bonded to his mom.

f. Fill in the gap mom, dad isn’t around for whatever the reason. Jim Tipton.

Repair the wound:

1. Jesus is the example!

Mentoring Relationships

Authentic Manhood (Session 10)

Mentors: Paul and Timothy, Moses and Jethro, Jesus and the Twelve.

1. A Mentor is a man that has what you need. Identify your objectives in teams of needs. What are you looking to improve; knowledge, attitudes, habits, behaviors or skills. Whatever these are only the person that has developed these can help you achieve your milestones.

2. A Mentor cultivate relationship, an effective mentor must capable of giving himself to another human being. They must be capable of establishing and maintaining a relationship. Otherwise, he will have difficulty attracting anyone, despite the considerable value of what he may have to offer

3. A mentor is willing to take a chance on you. A mentor is going to make an investment in you. A mentor is going to make an investment of time, energy, emotion, trust, and resources. He may even invest cash.

4. He is respected by other men. That is important because to be the real deal others must respect you.

5. He has a network of resources. You will need to resources to help you grow.

6. He is consulted by others for guidance.

7. He both talks and listens.

8. He is consistent in his life style. All his life areas!

9. He able to see your real needs. He can see inside of you and connect.

10. He is concern with you interest.

This must be something you must want in your life not something you do to fill a box. You must what to improve your life.

You have to give back to others. We cannot live a full life until we give back. If you lived all your life taking and not giving back you are not complete. Life is a cycle and you are part of it. What is it that helped you make it in your life thus for? Is there someone you can help get to where you are?

Exodus 18:17-18 (NASB)
¹⁷ Moses' father-in-law said to him, "The thing that you are doing is not good.
¹⁸ "You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.

This will help you in your marriage as well if you have a mentor that knows what it takes.

Ref: Authentic Manhood