Takes a real man to be like Jesus!

In today's society, there are all kinds of definitions of what it takes to be a man. Things like big muscles, superior looks, womanizers, tough, ball player, ect. All these are wrong. Being a real man is to be a man of God. It is the hardest, toughest thing a man can ever do! Let's see how to be a real man:



1 Timothy 2:8

8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;



So what do we see here? First, A man that prays. Are you a man that prays? Not one that just blesses the meal which is good, but one that spends large amounts of time with God in prayer. It is not an easy thing to do. It is not an easy thing to do as the devil will battle you so your mind wanders. The bible says pray, men we have to battle in prayer for our families, for the lost, for the church, and for our own walk with God.



Second, be a holy man. A holy man does not care what others think! He will sing praises to his Lord and might even raise his hands in worship! God is clear what a holy man looks like here:



2 Timothy 2:22

22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.



Do these characteristics describe you? It is a description of a holy man.



Third, When we lift them hands we are praising God. God wants us to be men of praise. Think about your day to day life. How much time do you spend praising God both to yourself and to others? Give God some praise! He alone is worthy. Many go about praising their college football team, or favorite singer ect, but they don't praise the the one who created them! Don't make sense does it?



Fourth, be a peaceful man. That characteristic is in both verses above! Being a man of constant strife is not what Jesus was all about. Jesus only got angry when it came to dishonoring God and we should be the same. Peacefulness draws folks in for us to love, anger drives folks away!



So when looking at this can all of us say we are men or women of God this morning or so we have some major work to do?



Tom

What do I lack?

Many folks today think they are pretty good people. They read their bibles, go to church, help their neighbors, don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal, just down right good folks. This is awesome! We need more people like this. Bu there is one problem....they still lack something for eternal life. Check this guy out:



Matthew 19:16-22



Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler

16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

18 He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.



First, I want you to notice that this man knows he is lacking something. This is called conviction. I believe the Holy Spirit has come upon this young man and convicted him that he was not right with God. So he went to Jesus to find out what he lacked!



Second, Jesus lets him know up front, he is a sinner by telling him their is only ONE who is good and that is God! Nothing we can do to make ourselves good on our own!



Third, next Jesus tells him to keep the commandments, which if one could do perfectly would make him right with God. We all know it is impossible to live a perfect life which this young ruler says he has done since his youth, which is a lie right there!



Fourth, The young man asks again what do I lack and Jesus knowing what is keeping him form totally surrendering to God (his riches) tells his to sell all and give i to the poor and follow Him. The young man couldn't give the riches up and walks away. Notice, the young man is sorrowful but not sorrowful enough to give up the sin that has a hold on his life!



Now before we shake our heads at the young ruler we better examine our own lives and see if there is something lacking in our own lives. Is there something that is keeping you from total surrender to Jesus. Come to Jesus! He will help you give up what ever it is. He loves you and knows what is best for each of us. This sin for the young ruler cost him eternal life, my friend there is nothing in life more valuable that a relationship with Jesus! Come find out for yourself.



As always if I can assist you in anyway, just message me. I am here for you anytime my friend!



Tom

Examine yourself!

We are quick to judge these days. Many think this is wrong spiritually. Personally, I think we have to judge or inspect fruit as scripture puts it to help those that are deceived, back sliding, or just plain not in Christ. Here is the verse on fruit inspection:



Matthew 7:16-20



16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.





John 15:1-5



15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.



Now let me be clear, we are not the ultimate judge, Jesus is. But as followers of Christ we must judge, fruit inspect, or whatever you want to call it, as to help the lost or our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not to use this judging though to hurt, slander, isolate, or banish. We are to love them like Jesus. In many cases folks who we point out sin to will become offended even when we do it in love, there is nothing we can do about that but try to keep loving them in Christ!



For each of us the best thing for us to do is examine ourselves according to God's Word:



1 Corinthians 11:27-28



Examine Yourself

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.



Did you see that examine yourself! Then see if your life matches up to God's Word not the worlds opinion! If it does awesome! If not then pray for God to help you make changes with the help of the Holy Spirit.



2 Corinthians 13:5-7

5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. 6 But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.

7 Now I pray to God that you do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that you should do what is honorable, though we may seem disqualified.



There it is again, examine! Very important. Sadly, many folks will come to the end of this life only to find out they were never in Christ Jesus. They listened to what the world says is right instead of what God's Word says. The church is full of folks who claim to follow Jesus, but when fruit is inspected there is no evidence and thus they are disqualified. Don't be one of these, examine yourself, examine scripture, and know for sure if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.



Tom

How to become Great!

WOW! What a weekend. I went to a Men's Conference in Camden, Tennessee this weekend. Awesome teachings from God from Ken Freeman, Ronnie Coleman, and Steve Gains. Then we had Steve Austin from 180 degrees ministries speak to our church about getting our life on target with God. I highly encourage you to look his ministry up and have him come to your church. He will make you think about how you view life and how God wants you to view life! So I want to share some things I learned with you this week!



There are many things we consider good in this world. Matter of fact we have claimed some people to be great! Michael Jordan, we say is the greatest basketball player of all time. Mohommud Ali claimed himself to be the greatest boxer of all time. Wayne Gretzky was proclaimed the great one. And we could go on and on. But let me remind you of this verse:



Mark 10:18

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.



Hmmm if God is the only one good what does that say to the rest of us??? We are filthy rags according to the Word:



Isaiah 64:6

But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.



Ouch! That hurts to know the truth doesn't it? Well I have good news. We can be great! God is more than good, God is great! Jesus is great! So how do we become great?



John 14:12

12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.



Did you catch that? We can be great and do greater works if we believe in Jesus! When we are in Christ Jesus we are joint heirs:



Romans 8:17

and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.



We are great in Jesus! This is the only way! Let me remind you, we are great not because of anything we have done but by what Jesus has done on our behalf on the cross!



Now when you become great you do great things, how do you do great things?



Luke 9:23

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.



The only truly great things in life that are done are done following and serving Jesus. Simple huh?



So are you great? You can be in Christ Jesus! Come follow Him!



Tom

Blessed!

Sit back and think about all the blessings God has given you!



Psalm 34:8

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!



Psalm 84:12

O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!



Psalm 112:1

[ The Righteous Will Never Be Moved ] Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!



Psalm 128:1

[ Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord ] [ A Song of Ascents. ] Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!



Psalm 128:4

Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.



Proverbs 8:32

“And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.



Proverbs 16:20

Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.



Jeremiah 17:7

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.



Matthew 25:34

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.



John 20:29

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”



Ephesians 1:3

[ Spiritual Blessings in Christ ] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,



James 1:12

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.



Make sure you notice that being blessed is not in material things but in a relationship with Jesus and serving Him! Trust Jesus and serve Him with your life and you will be blessed even if it involves persecution!



I am blessed! Are you?



Tom

Decide to come to Jesus like the Duck Commander!

 





A word from the Duck commander Phil Robertson himself about coming to Jesus. Have you come to Jesus?



1 Corinthians 2:2

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Tom

Transformed!!!! Are you?

The bible clearly teaches than when we receive Christ as Lord and Savior a transformation starts taking place. Some changes happen right away and other changes happen over time as we learn more about the Word of God and the teachings of Jesus. Here are a couple of examples of scripture that tell us this very thing:



Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.





2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.



So we need to ask ourselves this morning, have I been transformed or am I being transformed to be like Jesus. Here are few things that should take place in our lives:



1. Mind Change! Our thoughts should change. We should be focusing on the things of God and what he wants us to be doing. Pure, Holy thoughts! Trying to obtain the mind of Christ! If you put garbage in it is hard to have pure thoughts! Remember that!



2. Desires Change! Worldly things out...Godly things in! A good example of this is church. Some ask why are you at church every time the door is open? Because I want to! My desires have changed! I use to go just when I did not have anything better to do, now I go because I love God and and his people and I want to be at church! My desires have changed!



3.Wills Change! Our wills are to please God not self. Go where Jesus says and do what Jesus says! Plain and simple.



4. Relationships Change! New friends. Old friends tend to leave because of your change to be like Christ. I did not want my old friends to leave but they could not handle the change. So I still love them and try to tell them about Jesus but sadly relationships change. Key here is to continue to love all.



5.Possessions Change! Idols will be removed from our lives and replaced with godly things. We must remember anything we put before God becomes an idol. For example tv instead of quiet time in the Word or prayer. Sports instead of getting our children trained up in the Lord. Sports and tv in themsleves are not bad but when we put them before God they become idols.



So let us look this morning and examine ourselves and see if we are transformed or if no changes have been made!



Tom