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Podcast 20 - Act Like A Man - Stand Firm
43 Plays14 days ago
Join us as we continue to discuss the biblical charge given to stand firm
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Transcript
Introduction and Current Sermon Series
00:00:10
Speaker
Hey, welcome back to the Grove Hill Church Podcast. We're very glad to have you joining us today. i got my man Kyle to my right, my man John to my left. Fantastic having these two guys along for the ride in the journey.
Cultural Awakening in Churches: Men's Roles
00:00:23
Speaker
We're back talking a little bit more about the current sermon series that we are in called Act Like a Man.
00:00:30
Speaker
i have actually come across several other pastors who seem to be doing this kind of thing right now. I think there's an awakening going on in our country in certain areas. And maybe this is an attempt by churches to take advantage of that momentum and continue to invest in men.
Standing Firm in Faith: Sermon Reflection
00:00:47
Speaker
It's been a long time since I've seen men doing what men are doing these days in the church, and that's an encouraging sign. Still, there's a long way to go. There's much to be thinking about, much to be praying about. This past Sunday, we talked about standing firm in the faith and what it looks like as a man of God, as a father, as a...
00:01:08
Speaker
husband to be one who stands in the gap for your family, who stands on his faith. And we talked a lot about different aspects of what that looks like. So um give you all like three seconds notice. Let's talk a little bit about what the first thing that pops in your head when you think back to Sunday, what was one of the things that may be, um, you heard that challenged your own heart, or maybe you went right away, you said, hey, that that's a good word for our people.
00:01:33
Speaker
um Let's start there with the conversation, and then we'll unpack some of it a little today. Yeah, I initially thought, if I'm going to stand firm on my faith, where are my feet at? Like, what am I choosing to stand firm on? And as you spoke on Sunday, Matthew 7 kept keep coming to mind, where it says, if you hear God's word and obey it,
00:01:53
Speaker
then your feet are planted on the solid rock,
Understanding Ephesians 6: Armor of God
00:01:56
Speaker
right? And then no matter what the world throws at you, your foundation is solid. And so where your feet are planted in your faith, um it's on biblical knowledge following Jesus. yeah Yeah, that's a good illustration. In fact, right now to my left, right straight in front of Kyle, we have our new church buildings being built. that's right here We're watching these guys excitedly as they are putting up steel beams for us. And that idea of anchoring them into the foundation that has been poured and now is hard, steady. When you build a building, that's what you got to do. right You got to anchor to something good. What's your thought, John? I think to your point, as you kind of dug in a little bit in the back part of Ephesians, and you talked about all those elements that you armor up with, um you know that men, whenever they know what they're fighting for, and and there's such great depth of care and concern, like they'll go lay it on the line. They'll go lay everything out. And so I think knowing what I believe and going with an equipped mindset, ah and even more than this, an equipped heart, because you can go with knowledge, but if you go with godly wisdom and you got a bunch of guys who are right there by your side,
00:03:07
Speaker
no God's going to use that. That's true. I mean, men feed off of that. By knowing what they're supposed to do, yeah they'll do it all day long. yeah But if they don't know what they're supposed to do, if it's an unfamiliar area, they're not going to engage worth a lick. They'll just step back and say, I'll let someone else handle that. yeah And so knowing knowing what you believe, knowing where your feet are planted, yes um gives you a lot of confidence to
Intentional Spiritual Practices
00:03:28
Speaker
move forward. Most definitely. So let's go back to the passage you're referring to, the one we talked about on Sunday, Ephesians 6, 10 through 18. where it lays out what we commonly refer to as the armor of God. I think most people who grew up in church have heard that at some point. They've heard sermons about it, lessons about it. If you're a kid, you grew up on VBS a little bit with it. yeah But do you think the average man understands what that really means and knows how to truly put on the armor of God, this figurative thing that we talk about that helps us in our spiritual body? Do you think most guys know what that means as far as practical applications?
00:04:03
Speaker
ah Maybe. It kind of depends on... it's very solid. yeah So solid maybe. I think it just depends on how long you've been in the church, how serious you are about church. um I think if you first read through it, you're like, belt of truth. I didn't know what we're... They can't have no association made. right But the more you study it, the more you look into it, the more you dive into what he's actually saying when he's when he's listing these items of the armor. It starts to create a very clear picture that we need all these facets of this armor in order to ah fight the battle. Yeah.
00:04:38
Speaker
yeah So um I think for for me, i think many guys know it and even know how to do it, but do you think they're intentional about
Combating Passivity and Complacency
00:04:50
Speaker
practicing? Mm-hmm.
00:04:51
Speaker
um ah you know i've heard I've heard pastors, I think Charles Stanley is the first one I ever heard, he talked about the reality. He said, you know, I used to not get out of bed until, i mean, my feet would not even hit the floor until I had put on the full armor of God every day. And I think we approach it in a almost a passive way, that because we're a believer, then I've got the full armor of God, I'm going to be okay. But just like ah a true Roman soldier, which is where the reference comes from, He didn't just get up and it was on. He had to be be intentional about placing it on him. So what does that look like for a guy? start my day. How do i how do i really step into the world putting on the full armor of God?
00:05:27
Speaker
I'd say a good start. And it's an analogy I use for students when they don't bring their Bible to class. It's like, would you go to battle without your sword, right? yeah And that's kind of like the the mindset behind like the the the sword of the Spirit, is scripture, right? It's like being being equipped with that battle-ready weapon. And so studying scripture at home um is a way to apply that directly to your life, making sure that you're equipped with the information of God's Word.
00:05:59
Speaker
i think I think there's the, and I would go back to that question that you asked earlier, do we know? i would, I'd probably say there's an indictment on the church just based on things that I've seen. Not just in our local context, but as a broad American context, we don't.
00:06:19
Speaker
Like we we don't. We even have people in leadership And there's been times to where I've looked at my own life, man, I have every resource at my fingertips. You know, ah i know pastors 50 years ago that would have killed for the resources that we have today. No doubt.
00:06:36
Speaker
And I come ill-equipped because of sometimes laziness. Sometimes, to y'all's point, sometimes no intentionality. So I think it it requires an intentionality and and a true evaluation of, Where am I at spiritually? And do I do these things to spiritually form ah my life with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with the guidance of accountability from other men or whatever circles that you have in your context? Right.
00:07:06
Speaker
Do you have those things? And then when you are truthfully evaluating, what are you doing about it? yeah are you Are you even taking the next step? and And I think in our culture, it's, hey, I want to be there 20 steps from now. No, just evaluate where you're at. Take the first step. And it's those simple practices that I think get you started. Yeah. So one of you guys, I think, have Ephesians 5 open. Yes, sir. Yeah. Look, read Ephesians 5 15 for me please.
00:07:33
Speaker
Sorry, I was on Ephesians 6. I'm sorry. 515. Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise. Okay. So to me, that's ah that's an indictment on most men and and even most godly men because um I've told y'all before this word that God put on my heart for 2026 is this word intentionality. The earliest sin by a man goes back to being passive.
00:08:02
Speaker
By standing there watching his wife be put through trial, through temptation, an enemy obviously physically approaching her, he stands by, watches and does nothing about it. I think ever since, men have been very prone to passivity in their lives. They aren't intentional about how they live, how they work, how they plan, how they how they eat, how they take care of their physical bodies, how they invest their money. It's like we just kind of...
00:08:29
Speaker
We just kind of are reactive in so many ways in our lives, but especially in our spiritual lives. And I think what Paul was trying to say in Ephesians 5 is you've got to be smart about the way you approach this because this is a very real enemy.
Men as Spiritual Leaders in Families
00:08:42
Speaker
I don't think any one of us, if we were told we were going to have to step onto a battlefield, to go, eh, I'll wing it when I get there. We'd want to know that the general who was in charge was someone we could trust, but we also would want to know, I've got a plan for what I'm going to do when I see the enemy. yeah And yet most of us don't do that because it's, again, it's this reactive kind of thing. Oh, if something happens, then I'm sure I can handle it.
00:09:05
Speaker
so Yeah, I don't know who quoted this. It's someone wiser than me. But they said, I'd rather be a a warrior in a garden than a gardener at war. And the idea is I'd rather be prepared and ready and then live a very peaceful, simple life than to not be prepared and be in the battle, right? And so to be prepared with God's word and and equipped with it, it's not a judgmental thing when I tell the students, like, you need to bring your Bible to church. It's like instructions. Like if we're here to learn about who we are supposed to be in Christ, we need the the guidance book with us. You know, we need to we need to have it there to study through. Absolutely. So maybe an encouragement to you men who come to church without your Bible, um get get on it. Study it during the week, know it, hold it in your hand when you come into church, follow the passages as we read through them and in in church, and study that thing to know because there is a battle.
00:09:58
Speaker
And we want to be prepared. I call it, and I've heard this, I'm not, this is not an original term, sticky learning. Like do things, i know you've mentioned it before over the years, like do things that are going to repetitively insert this god godly wisdom into your brain. yeah like And it doesn't happen just through the preaching. Like in reception audibly, but write it down, look at it over and over again. There's a reason why Deuteronomy says, you know, that you're to do all these things throughout the day, throughout the week right and writing it on your heart.
00:10:32
Speaker
Go listen to podcasts that speak about God's word. Hey, tune in right here. But, but to do those things and and not just being audible, Hey, I'm going to hear my hour-long sermon for the week, but I'm going to write notes. I'm going to do this and put those things to my heart. Because I think we expect that this checkbox is going to fulfill our spiritual needs, and it just doesn't. It's an adequate part of what God has designed, but it's not the only thing. And it can't be the only thing for men to take one step from A to B. Yeah.
00:11:04
Speaker
As we've been talking about biblical manhood, I want to always be careful to come back to this because when we're when we're talking about it, we're not talking about being control freaks over our families or or anything like that. In fact, the truth is that biblical manhood first asks us to take responsibility for ourselves.
00:11:22
Speaker
you know Am I being the man that I need to be? Am I leading the way I should? Am I following after Christ the way he has compelled me to do that? um I think that's why passivity is so destructive. It's because it literally gives us an excuse not to be responsible for anything.
00:11:37
Speaker
So how do we battle that? Why has it become so common? Why have men become so... complacent about this responsibility? I think the enemy of godly wisdom is comfort.
00:11:49
Speaker
um And I think it's become that way because part and parcel, I think two things, but one thing is our culture, especially in American culture, comfort is a level of, I've made it. Like this is, it's like the, ah I'm not going to say Nirvana, but it's like this point of you reaching, like, I don't have to do anything. Yeah.
00:12:10
Speaker
When does war get waged whenever you don't prepare, whenever you don't do anything. So I think we have to look at it in light of, ah we have to combat that with active things. We have to keep on not not just you know nonsensical motion, but we have to move in motion our spiritual muscles to do those things that sometimes don't even feel great. it's not There's no easy button. The Ephesians, look at the last few chapters, there was no easy button. now And we think that somehow we've arrived now, like we've met this spiritual level.
Preparing for Spiritual Battles
00:12:49
Speaker
you're needing to be sanctified there is no level you have to stay prepared at every moment yeah you said a key thing earlier when you said we're in charge of taking care of our family but we haven't taken care of ourselves first um if if i don't feel qualified to lead my family that's where i'm going to sit in passivity right um but if i equip myself and i learn god's word and i know what i'm supposed to be doing with my kids and i know what i'm supposed to be doing with my wife then it encourages engagement with my family And so number one is your personal relationship with the Lord. Being intentional, intimate, studying, praying, and get yourself in in the um
00:13:29
Speaker
mentorship of the Lord to where He's guiding you on how to how to live your life, and then it naturally flows into your family. Yeah. um Yeah, that's all good stuff. I'm just sitting here thinking about all the different ways that I see this challenge before us of of moving beyond what the world expects of us. And yeah you mentioned this. Comfort is an idol.
00:13:55
Speaker
It really is. And it's an idol that we have elevated really, really high here in the United States of America. Many times when a guy comes to me, especially one who's just begun his journey with Christ, or maybe he's just getting serious about his relationship with Christ, he comes to me and they'll ask me questions like, is there a good book I can read or or whatever? And what I'm hearing is, what's the easy button? yeah What are the four easy steps I need to go from here to being like Paul? And you want to go, man, it's ah' it's a lot more than four easy steps. You've got to get into the heat and be in the battle all day. your Sanctification is a lifelong process. Yeah. And there's a lot of guys, I think, who are taught early on, yeah, go do this, go do this, go do this, and then you'll be a man of God. And I think that's a disservice to them. yeah Because here's the truth. Satan's going to get up and kick you in the teeth sometimes. yeah And there's going to be days when you don't want to get out of the bed. There's going be days when you and your wife aren't on the same page. And
Speaking Truth Boldly
00:14:49
Speaker
you've got to be just as much a man of God in those moments as you do during those worship services where God ah tugs at your heart. yeah
00:14:55
Speaker
And in fact, I would say the people that are responding to to godly men... Like, ah they're not responding out of a process that's been built through the high worship moments. You know, where it's great. It's beautiful.
00:15:10
Speaker
But they see consistency of men following God whenever following God isn't popular, whenever following God isn't the ideal. Do you think men...
00:15:22
Speaker
especially men who I think are intentional or trying to live out this Christ life. Um, do you think they read the end of the story and go, Hey, we win, but things get real ugly between here and there. So maybe I just don't need to worry about the between here and there. I don't need to try because I'm going to win in the end anyway. So I'm just going to kind of, I'm just going to kind of cruise through life. I'm just going to kind of keep my head down, stay out of the way. The reason I ask that is because I'm watching what's going on, not just here, but in in Western Europe, you know, where the used to be the seat of Christianity. And you see what's going on in some of these countries. And it's like, where are the men? The ones who are going to stand up and say, enough is enough. you're You're stupid. I just read a poll right before we came downstairs a minute ago. Some magazine, oh, Axios. Axios just interviewed or surveyed 20 potential Democratic candidates for the 2028 nomination for president and asked one question.
00:16:13
Speaker
Is there a difference between a man and a woman? And not one of them would come out and answer the question. So why why aren't men standing and saying, okay, fine, you don't want to answer the question? Then you aren't worth being considered for the election. We've got to get back to some common sense here with our families and with our children. What is this nonsense? Can a man have a baby? No, absolutely not.
00:16:37
Speaker
i Stupidity. Yeah. I mean, the reason the stupid level's going up is because the intentionality level is going down yes with the church. yeah And I, man, I just get so fired up about it because I'm like, gosh, this is so common sense. Why are we scared to speak truth anymore? Yeah.
00:16:52
Speaker
So, I don't know. That was my sermon from this morning. We talked about this in staff meeting today that people are looking for a place where people aren't apologetic for their biblical beliefs. And I think that's kind of where we've landed is we don't want to say something because we don't want to offend somebody else. well, that leads to non-truth. That leads to lies. yeah And so we we do have to be bold enough to look at scriptures and the truth of scriptures and speak those things out loud, not just to our wife and our children, but to our community and be able to stand up. And it and if it kicks you to be an outsider, then you're persecuted in in his name. I mean, it's
00:17:32
Speaker
It's kind of bound to happen. he said, you will be hated on behalf of me. Yeah, I think to your point, you mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, Ridley, that we apologize before we ever set out to speak the message that God calls us to speak. And we got to quit apologizing. We got to quit saying,
00:17:51
Speaker
hold on, here's this disclaimer before we give you this. right like right We're perverting the gospel when we put disclaimers on it. yeah You speak with boldness. You speak with This is what God says. i come on behalf of God as a messenger of God saying these things. But what I think we get is a generation that says, oh, well, I guess we have to give a disclaimer before we give the gospel. And so you get this watered down kind of feel whenever we come up on topics like homosexuality. and Well, let's just not say anything. Let's keep the peace.
00:18:25
Speaker
No, God says marriage was between covenant was between one man one woman for life yep that's what it is if you look at scripture it's never in an apologetic no it's never like hey i'm about to say something really harsh protect your feelings blah blah blah it says let there no be no hint of sexual immorality among you no greed no impurity it comes across loving but very direct yeah like drawing lines and saying like here's who we are as followers of christ yeah So here's the thing. Let's say the three of us get into a plane and we fly to New York City because John wants to go get some food. John loves New York City. I've seen this guy walk down the sidewalks of the pizza. And we decide to go to the Empire State Building. You ever been to the Empire State Building? I actually have not. Okay. Well, we're all going into the Empire State Building. and Let's say we get up to the 70th floor. don't even know how many floors there are, but we're going to get up really, really high. And this huge, horrible fire breaks out on 10 floors below us. Mm-hmm.
00:19:20
Speaker
And we're standing there and we're confused because smoke is all around us and we are discombobulated, fancy SAT word, because we can't see through the smoke and all the panic that's setting in. And some guy standing at the corner wearing a fire department uniform looks at us and says, I know the way out.
00:19:37
Speaker
If I look at him and say, are you sure? I want to hear him say with confidence, I know the truth. i have walked the stairs of this building. I know where we need to go. and if you will follow me, I will take you to life. yeah I don't want him to go, well I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation. I hope this doesn't offend you, but you're headed the wrong way. Yeah.
00:19:58
Speaker
And I think there might be a possibility. we get I want somebody who knows the truth to guide me. And that's why our culture is hurting right now. Many of the men who are holding the truth are holding onto it and not giving it away. yeah they're They're afraid to speak up. They're afraid to to teach truth.
Men's Responsibility as Leaders
00:20:15
Speaker
They're afraid to speak their mind. Then you've got this whole other segment who are kind of like the guy who's sitting over in the other kind corner of my scenario who goes, oh I don't know where we're going. I don't have a clue. Yeah, let's stand next to that guy. I never bothered to look at the fire escape plan when I was coming up. So, you know, the world's but falling apart around us. You better trust that guy, not me. yeah
00:20:34
Speaker
So I just feel like we've got to get some more. Bring that analogy into your household. If your kid is out in the street and cars are coming, you're not going to be like, hey, little Tommy, come off the street. you know You're going to be like, hey, come here, right? We're handing our kids smartphones and the TV and the enemy's there and the attacks are there. Be very direct with these things. Hey, we don't watch this show because there's this. We don't watch this because the commercials are this, right? And so um walk them through that, explain those things, but we have to be very direct and speak truth and set guidelines and parameters for them.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah, don't worry about how odd your family might look because if you're worried about that, you may not have a family. Yeah. And and that that kind of gets down to brass tacks. And I'm saying that to, there may be people listening right now that,
00:21:22
Speaker
their wife has no respect for them. Their kids kind of like, ah, you know, what is he going to do? yeah And I say that because we've just laxed and let comfort be the the placeholder in our family's life. And then all of a sudden we wonder why we have these problems, you know, 10 years down the road. i had a previous job where I was not in the ministry. I was in the marketplace where I had a position as a manager.
00:21:48
Speaker
And we were having a conversation with the boss about an employee that was having problems with. And I said something along the lines this a long time ago i said something along lines of, I wish he would listen to me.
00:22:01
Speaker
And so I looked at him thinking maybe he would respond or offer to step in. And he walked over to me and very kindly and gently tapped my name badge. And he said, the reason you have that name badge is because you get to have these hard conversations. And if you're not willing to have those hard conversations, then they'll never respect you.
00:22:18
Speaker
And I thought, well, that's pretty harsh, but doggone it, it's right. It's right. Well, let me tell you something, guys. You've been given the title of husband. You've been given the title of father. It's your job to have these hard conversations. Don't send your children to my children's minister to fix them. That's your job to sit down. And until you do that,
00:22:37
Speaker
they're not going respect you. And so I think we have got to get some guys back towards an intentional kind of living, ah a way of just stepping up and taking responsibility for all the things that God has given them. And the Bible's very clear. hey if you handle that responsibility well, then I'll give you more. I'll bless you more. I'll take care of you more. All those things. But you've got to be willing to wear
Fatherhood: Presence and Intentionality
00:22:58
Speaker
the badge. Yep.
00:22:59
Speaker
Yep. So. Yeah, guys, for those of you who have kids at home, a scripture says you got a quiver full of arrows and how are you sending them out.
00:23:10
Speaker
I hope it's not duds, you know, that we're only giving them a trajectory of. We're only going to send you a little bit of waves with no wisdom. You've got the opportunity. We've mentioned it time and time again here. It's never too late. Kyle sees this all the time. yeah like There are teenagers that are hungry to be led. There are spouses that are hungry to be led. So lead.
00:23:33
Speaker
Take the opportunity and lead. Yeah. Just a reminder, what we're talking about is not guys being perfect. and None of us are. ah John just said this. If you messed up, it's never too late.
00:23:45
Speaker
There's always an opportunity to accept God's grace, to get back in the Word, get some some mentorship, some accountability from other guys, get back on the path. Put the name badge back on have the hard conversations you need to have with your family. Yeah.
00:23:59
Speaker
Get that going. um Yeah. Never too late. It's what God expects. Not people who are perfect, just people who are present and willing to be available. like He likes it when he uses the imperfect. Yeah. It really does. Yeah. It really
Conclusion and Invitation
00:24:12
Speaker
does. Thank goodness. goodness. All right. I think that's probably it for this week. Next week, we'd love to have you come back and join us. We don't have a clue what we're going be talking about. That's okay. So far, we've managed not to stick our feet too far down our boats. But, um yeah, we we love doing this. Again, we'd love to have you come back and join us, follow us, like us, share with other people. and if you're in the area this Sunday, come back. Week three of our series, Act Like a Man, 8, 9, 30, and 11. And we'll see you back next week. to See y'all. Bye.