The Men We Need to Be

Purity,Men

The “MAN” We Need to Be

“[Men]…live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor…so that your prayers may not be hindered.” (I Peter 3.7, ESV)

Intro-

        It needs to be understood that both of these characteristics are a result of prolonged adolescence; an epidemic that is sweeping across the foundation of what it now means to be a man.  This is not at excuse, but a glaring problem, it must be fixed!

 

• Cowardly Child
• “Mommy” Complex
• Complete losers
• Aren’t looking for a wife, but rather another mom
• Usually a pretty nice guy, but not a respectable man
• A cute “little guy”
• Can’t think for himself
• Cumbersome Chauvinist
• Disgusting
• Misreads the bible and doesn’t know what he’s doing
• “Rules” over women as a dictator not as a Leader
• Christian Cowboy (Ruth 2-4: Boaz)
• Not to be mistaken with a “Cowboy who is a Christian”
• Fine line
• Christian is always the forefront
• Pursues a woman because of her character not her look (Ruth 2. 11)
• Ask about her (Ruth 2. 5)
• Approaches her (Ruth 2. 8-9,11-12)
• Chivalry
• Provider (Ruth 2.9-10)
• Protector
• Protects her physically (Ruth 2.8, 22)
• Protects her purity (Ruth 3.8-13)
• Protects her Reputation (Ruth 3.14)
• Works for what he wants (Ruth 4.1-6)
• Leaves a Legacy (Ruth 4.17)

Being a Proverbs 31 Woman

Proverbs 31

The Godly Woman

                  This blog was a by-product of the purity series that is going on with our college and high school students at our church.  It was an idea that was heavy on my heart and we decided needed to be addressed.  Purity is not something that is readily accepted or practiced in our culture today.  Therefore, it is imperative that we teach that holiness/purity is of utmost importance for a Christian’s life.  So while studying for the week we discussed purity for girls, Proverbs 31 stayed the forefront of my mind.  If we are to discuss how to be a godly, pure, holy woman in today’s culture, then we should draw our example from the woman who is praised in Proverbs. 

                  There are ten characteristics that while looking through these verses which define a godly woman.  It needs to be established that these are not a destination for which to be arrived at, they are characteristics to be pursued, daily.  The writer starts off the section by explaining how difficult it really is to find such a woman; he writes, “an excellent wife (woman) who can find?  She is far more precious than jewels.”  Knowing that they are difficult to find, it is important, gentlemen, that when you find her, you treat her that way!  Ladies, if you strive to be this woman, do not waste your time with little, childish boys that do not know how to treat you, you are too precious for that!

                  The Godly woman is:

• Of Moral Character- “…Strength and dignity are her clothing and she laughs at the time to come…” (v.25). Before anything else, this woman is moral.  The idea of a virtuous woman naturally carries with it the idea of purity, holiness, and morality.  She is not shady, promiscuous, or loose.  This woman respects herself, and is not identified by who she dates/marries or the circumstance of life, but her identity is found in the life she has been given through Jesus Christ.
• Trustworthy- “…the heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain…” (v.11). In an age of adultery, a trustworthy woman is to be praised.  With all of the pressures of life, if a man does not have to worry about his wife, it a good thing.  This means that you are not a flirt, no “best” guy friends, nothing that could lead to scarring the trust between you and your boyfriend/husband. 
• Supportive- “…She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life…her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land…” (v. 12 &23).  A man needs support!  If your husband/boyfriend has the loving, caring support of a great woman, he will feel like a superhero that could take on the world.  This needs to not be understated; support is a huge part of all female to male relationships. 
• Hard working- “…she seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.  She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.  She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens…She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.  Her lamp does not go out at night…” (v. 13-15, 18).  Lazy people (guy or girl) benefit no one.  A good work ethic is admirable for anyone and everyone.  How’s your work ethic? Check this.
• Smart Financially- “…She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard…she makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant” (v. 14, 24).  Nothing is worse than a man who is fulfilling his God-given responsibility to provide for his wife and kids, with nothing to show for it because his wife cannot say “no” to her shopping habits.  Do you have a budget if you are married?  Do you stick to it?  Are you the master of your finances or are your finances mastering you?  Gentlemen, if you find a good woman, who is good with numbers and is good with money, JACKPOT!!  Be responsible, spend responsibly. 
• Healthy- “…she dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong…” (v.17).  Now, first and foremost let it be clear this is not about conforming to the “look” of the models on the front of the magazine.  But there is a sense of health, working out and exercising that is a matter of worshipping God.  Our bodies Paul writes in I Corinthians are the temple of God, and it is our act of worship to keep care of that temple.  The Godly woman does this.
• Caring- “…she opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy…” (v.20).  If the first commandment is to love God with all you have and second is like unto to it, to love your neighbor as yourself, then the Godly, virtuous woman, cares for people!  She is not self-centered, self-motivated, or selfish; she rather has a broken heart for hurting and broken people, sacrificing herself to help and love them like Jesus would.
• Is or will be a good mom- “…she is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet…she looks well to the way of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness…her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her…” (v.21, 27 &28).  Obviously if you’re not married this isn’t you.  But even if you’re not married you can be practicing qualities that are exemplified by good mothers.  Find a good woman in the church, one who has raised kids and be mentored by her.  A good woman (or man for that matter!) is one that is humbly able to submit and learn.
• Self-controlled- “…she opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue…” (v.26). If she opens her mouth with wisdom, she doesn’t open her mouth in foolishness.  THIS TAKES SELF-CONTROL.  Galatians 5.22 lists the fruit of the Spirit and one part of that is self control.  A godly woman knows how to control herself in all situations. 
• Unique- “…Many woman have done excellently, but you surpass them all.  Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (v.29-30 emphasis added).  There is nothing that sets the Godly woman apart like her love for Jesus.  A godly, virtuous, moral, caring, wonderful woman is unlike anyone else.  She is her own person, her identity is found inside of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This sets her apart, and if found she is a treasure to be kept!

This has been a brief discussion on the virtuous woman found in Proverbs 31.  These are characteristics that as stated above, are not a destination.  These qualities are a battle, like holiness, that must be fought daily.  Our culture is longing for girls to step up, and live this life!  I’m praying for all of you.

Purity week 2

Purity: Nothing to Hide

“Girl Talk”

6.20.10

      -Feminism

• Too high a view of self
• Pride/abusive
• Believes the lie of Genesis 3
• Stands over men to try and rule over them
• Needs Grace
• Brings humility
• Offered from the cross
• Passivism
• Too low a view of self
• Despair/ abused
• Don’t believe the truth of Genesis 1.26
• Allows men to rule over her (very much a people pleaser)
• Needs confidence
• Not in herself but in the cross of Christ (Heb 4.16)
• What grace divine what selflessness 
  That Christ would bear the weight 
  Our proof is scarred on hands that bled 
  That we were worth every nail
• Value is placed in what you would pay for something, and look at how valuable you are.
• “Ruth”ism (Ruth 1)
•  Confident (where you go I will go); Grace filled (your God shall be my God…)
• Finds a godly man, and humbly walks beside him as a helper.
• Proverbs 31.30; Ruth 1

Nothing To Hide: Holiness

Purity; Nothing to Hide

“Nothing to Hide”

6.13.10

 

Purity first must be understood as interchangeable with Holiness

• Our Responsibility
• Asking the Right question
• Not “how far is too far?’
• “how holy can I be”
• What holiness is not
• Self-Righteousness
• Religion/Pride
• Despair
• Self-Attained (II Cor. 5.21)
• “The Great exchange”
• This is the key to understanding holiness
• Self-Contained
• What Holiness is
• Purity
• Hagiós/Hagnós
• “sacred (physically pure morally blameless) innocent; modest, perfect—chaste, clean, pure”
• You do not have purity aside from holiness, nor do you  have holiness aside from purity
• Separation
• Consecrated- “set apart, fenced in, holy, devoted and/or dedicated.”
• In the world, not of the world
• “…not as complete detachment, but as a subtle attitude on particular points.”
• It is all about the standard you hold yourself to
• Areas of life to be consecrated
• Mind (Rom 12.1-2; Prov 23.7)
• Body (I Cor 6.15-20)
• Relationships
• Technology
• The Source
• The Cross
• It was here that Jesus paid for our sin and the opportunity to be pure
• “The Great Exchange” (II Cor 5.21)
• Day of Atonement (See below)
• The Gospel
• Makes new (II Cor 5.17)
• Old Passed away-Dead and gone
• All is new
• Thoughts
• Actions
• Words
• Gives new identity
• No longer identified by sin
• Stuff done by us         
• Commission-things we should not do
• Omission-things we fail to do
• Now identified in Christ
• Day of Atonement
• Propitiation- removal of wrath
• Expiation- removal of sin
• Now identified by his life, death, burial, and resurrection

Revelation Study

Revelation Study,Explaination

Just wanted to leave a little explanation.  I don't want to put something up here that is not of excellent quality.  So I WILL NOT be posting the Revelation Study any longer UNTIL it has been revised, edited, and corrected.  Please excuse and forgive the tardiness!

A Question I was asked about Demons

Youth Group,Angels,Demons

The following is a question that I received from a member of my youth group on Thursday night.  I will post the question and then the response that I gave to them.  Hope that this might find someone that needs it and they draw some answers from it. This was shared with permission. It has been edited to protect those involved. 

My friend  has been telling me some really stange things and I was wondering if you knew anything about it. They say they can see angels and demons and the God talks to them. They went to some church and they said that they were a "see er". her friend is supposed to have 'healing hands' and they and 3 other people were told that they has special gifts and would go around the world and help people. They said that God talks to them all the time. and so do demons. They say they saw 1 at our school by their locker and it was yelling at them. They said "flee from me satan" and it disappeared. I guess this has been going on for a while. Since like 5th grade...  I don't know but it doesn't sound right. It sounds like some kind of cult. I don't know what to say to them, but its kind of creeping me out. I asked a few of my Christian friends and they didn't know either. I really don't have any information on all this so I don't know what to say or react to this. I was hoping you could help me out.

 

This is the response I gave:                                                    

Demons, Angel, Seers, and People with Healing Hands

 

It is important to understand when dealing with this area of “the spiritual” realm to remember the reality of angels and demons.  They are real.  We believe that God created angels, and therefore if demons are fallen angels (II Peter 2.4), they were created too.  Billy Graham and his book, Angels, states that there are over 300 references to angels in the bible.  We have to begin from this understanding to further answer the question.

                  The idea of demons or angels being visible is highly debated.  However, the fact that they claim to be seen by people is not entirely false.  Today, people will label people who “see” spiritual things as having hallucinations, or some sort of mental illness.  With this view, I personally feel, we add fuel to the fire of their work.  C.S. Lewis said in his introduction to the Screwtape Letters that “there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race [humans] can fall about the devils.  One is to disbelieve in their existence.  The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”  So to make too big of a deal about them is just as bad as not believing in them at all. 

                  When it comes to a demons interaction with people, we have to assume that they work in the same exact way they did in the scriptures.  In the scripture we see them possessing people (actually taking over their bodies) and oppressing them (bringing oppression in their life; illness, harm, etc.).  The truth is that if you are in Christ, bought and paid for by His blood, YOU CANNOT be possessed by a demon. Jesus is your Christus Victor which gives you the victory over sin, death, Satan his servant their works and effects.  Conversely, anyone that is outside the protection of God’s grace and salvation, is open to any works of demonic activity.  

                  The advice given by the “church” about your friend being a seer, is completely and utterly false.  There is not a spiritual gift of seer (for a full description of spiritual gifts see I Corinthians 12).  There are cultic and black magic gifts of seer, but none of these have anything to do with Jesus and His work.  There is a gift of discernment, which allows one to distinguish between holy and evil spirits and works thereof, but the gift of “seer” is predominately a Mormon doctrine, with Joseph Smith, their blasphemous founder, holding the office of seer. 

                  With the gift of “healing hands” the only references to this that I found were in magical, almost like you established, cultic references.  Let me be forward to say that I fully believe that God is in the healing business.  But I believe that it is God, and not man.  I believe no longer, nor can it be proven scripturally, that people are still able to heal others.  These are gifts that were given to the 12 apostles, and vanished with the death of the last apostle.

                  These issues are very difficult, and very strange, but very real.  Demons, angels, and cultic sin are very real. Is your friend seeing angels and demons? Quite possibly.  Does she have the gift of seer and another friend with the gift of healing hands? No, not if they claim to be Christians.  One question to ask is if they have ever been involved in Wicca, or witchcraft magic of any kind.  If so, it is highly possible this is a manifestation of that sin.  I would personally advise that you be careful with the amount of time you spend with these people, because it could be a very dangerous thing, the spiritual realm of angels and demons is real and not something that humans should really be caught in, if given the choice.  I will be praying for you and will be praying for your friend, hopefully she can meet Jesus and be given the victory over this seemingly distracting oppression. 

I John 2.12-17: The Battle Fought 'Round the World

 

I John 2.12-17:

“The Battle Fought ‘Round the World”

                  Every day we’re in a battle.  No matter who you are, no matter where you stand with God, you are fighting a battle.  Inside all of us is a sense of something bigger, something shall we say, divine?   And this longing for the divine, even if we deny it, puts us in a battle.  Some have given into that calling, some fight it still, but John writes in his first epistle that we are in a fight.  He addresses those that are fight on the right side, that have given into that longing for something bigger, and he encourages them to keep fighting.   He writes:

                  “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.  I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.  I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father.  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.  I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. “(I John 2.12-17)

                  To start we have to almost work backwards through the passage.  What is the battle?  Who are the players in the battle?  The battle is between worldliness and godliness.  One cannot be both, worldly and godly.  Just as darkness has no fellowship with light, the love of the world cannot be consume the same heart that has a love for God.  Now, to preface the world we are talking of here is the fallen, sinful, perverted ways of the world.  Not the people that make up the world, but the sinful nature of the world.  It is important to make this distinction.  We are to love everyone, yet not love disgusting sin. 

                  There are three categories in which sin usually falls; lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life (v.16).  We see all the way back in the Garden of Eden these sins being prevalent.  Within the story of the tempting of Even and the first sin, we see these three characteristics of sin.  Eve saw (lust of eyes) that the fruit was good for eating (lust of flesh) and that it would make her like God (pride of life).  These three areas of sin needed to be guarded against, and are the battle in which we fight.  John goes on to encourage and remind believers , no matter what their spiritual standing, they are in a battle and to fight well.

                  Three categories of Christians are given in this passage; children, young men, and fathers.  Some will say this is in reference to the age of the believers, but it is not.  John here is referring to a type of age, but not age as we think of it, rather spiritual age.  Children refer to the spiritual babies, or newly saved.  These are the babes or little children in Christ.  The next are the fathers, they are the other end of the spectrum. These are defined by the spiritually mature, those that have a deep and intimate understanding of spiritual things.  The last group John discusses is the young men, who are strong.  These are those that are on their journey that are more mature in Christ than the babes, but aren’t as mature as the fathers.  These guys are still going thru the fire, if you will. 

                  There is a battle we fight every day.  How do we fight it?  Well no matter where we’re at on our journey (child, father, or young man) we draw encouragement from each other, and from the Word of God.  Paul wrote in Ephesians about our battle and that we need to put on the whole armor of God.  This being said we also have to keep our way pure by the very Word of God (Psalm 119.9).  We do this all by the grace of God, and hopefully at the end of our life, we have fought the good fight!