10XBetter | Men's Series

praise the lord everybody welcome to ten times better our discussion concerning men specifically living up to their created self that image of god that likeness of god tapping into all the potentials that god places in a man from the womb to the time he finds his purpose it's amazing how these discussions have uh gone full circle we started in the book of daniel and now as we come to the close of this dynamic series we touch on daniel once again it's all about the journey of a man that journey being productive victorious prosperous blessed committed to god a faithful man of courage a man that accomplishes things praying man a worshipping man that type of man that is a blessing to his family to those he's assigned to love and those who are assigned to love him in other words a man that makes a difference in the time that he lives makes an impact on all those that come into contact with him so i want you to share with someone right now inbox a few people call a few folk text a few folk why don't you tag the four or five people and let them know that we're on right now for ten times better but let's get started let's go to the book of joel i want to take you to a scripture you may have read maybe not and this is where we'll start our conversation today book of joel chapter 2 verse 7. as we do part 2 of man up they shall run like mighty men they shall climb the wall like men of war and they shall march everyone on his ways and they shall not break their ranks man up as we were conversing last time we talked about the pressure of the culture and its obvious purpose is to shape the way a man sees himself and therefore shape the destiny of every man god comes back in his word and says be not conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so one of the most poignant attacks on a human being's life is to alter the purpose and thought process of their minds they become conformed to what the culture is demanding and that is a very precarious life to try to live because the culture generally changes what it demands every 45 or 60 days so you find yourself with so many different emphasis instead of a primary emphasis and some interest branching off of that let me say that again you find yourself with multiple emphasis instead of a primary focus and interest branching off of that it's really important to understand the world's job is to conform you to uh put you in a position where you resist the renewal and transformation of your mind because the bible is clear as we think we become the sum total of your thoughts is the you that you are right now every man every woman who has come up through puberty and into adolescence and uh on into young adulthood and some into senior adulthood you are the fruit of a thought process that has dominated your life up to this point in time and god comes along with his spirit saves your soul through his son and begins a renewal if you will that leads to a change a transformed way of thinking which leads to a transformed life i like to say radically transformed so much so that paul says in his word he says i have to forget those things behind press towards the things in my future i press towards the mark i gotta go i have a goal i have a certainty about my life that i'm pressing towards and i want to accomplish so when the bible says be transformed by the renewing of your mind it is the counter to the culture trying to conform you or shape your thinking and this has to happen because there is a perfect will of god for you god has a plan god has a purpose god has a journey assigned to you elaine i like to call it so you can run the race that's set before you and his perfect will is what he wants to see happen in your life now the thing about his will is that it must be discovered it cannot be discovered unless you come into relationship with god and get to know him and find out what his promise to himself concerning you is the pressures of life cause us to question sometimes you know why is my life the way that it is and why you know are things happening like they are why is it taking so long for me to get the breakthrough that i want to get and there's the bible is clear addressing these types of questions be not weary and well doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not in other words stay steady stay consistent and if you're in god's will doing what god has created you to do the correct results will be emitted from your life it'll happen for you now this is very important to understand because sometimes when we're not bearing the fruit or being as productive as we should it is because a we may not be disciplined enough day to day to produce the result that we want but even more so we may not have fully understood the will of god for our lives the bible lets us know clearly that there's there's two kinds of way to live you can go through the wide way which narrows as you live or you go through the narrow way which widens as you live so when god brings you in the narrow way his way it forces some transformation and change in our lives and as we learn how to live within the will of god he opens up more and more possibilities to us because he can trust us with additional responsibility and what the bible calls manifold or many blessings so it's time now even though the pressure of society with social media and all the other cultural influences that are happening in the media and those things that are happening on your job and even among some of your peers this is not the time my brother to cave in it's actually time to man up it's actually time to start to become everything that god has created you to be we talked about daniel and the young men in the fiery furnace and it was imperative that we give you that example because of course we started with daniel at the beginning of this great series and now as we come to the close of it we're back in daniel again chapter three and it's the fiery furnace situation so the young men are in the furnace and therein lies the dilemma they have been placed there because they obeyed god not because they rebelled against god some of our tests in life are due to our obedience the the wonderful thing about that particular kingdom equation is if i'm in a disadvantageous place because of my obedience to god god is committed to delivering me in that situation so the young men are in the fiery furnace and they hang on to their testimony they hang on to what they believe and jesus comes along and says is my interpretation man up don't give up in the fire don't give up in the intensity of the challenges of your life i'm coming in there with you the bible says in the new testament lo i'll be with you always even when the circumstance looks like to you that he's not there when there are plenty of witnesses around that'll testify it does not look like god is with you in this particular season that you're in you can stand and hold on to your faith hold fast the profession of your faith because jesus says i'll never leave you in other words whatever your dilemma is today i don't know who i'm talking to whatever the challenge is today and you feel overwhelmed you feel underwater you feel as though there's no way out you need to hold on to your faith to relationship with god because jesus has promised to be there with you i'm coming in there with you man up hold on to your faith fight the good fight of faith the good fight of faith is fight knowing you're going to win so in the book of job we find ourselves being admonished being encouraged to do something since we should run like mighty men the bible says climb the wall like men of war men of purpose they shall march every one on his own ways shall go the path that god has demanded of us and we will not break ranks we will not fall out of pace out of rank fall out of our commitments not we will not give up in the midst of a struggle therein lies the essence of what we're going to talk about today it is imperative that you understand that purpose is a journey if you have been under the misconception that purpose is a destination then you have been taught incorrectly purpose is a journey that has several destinations so purpose is a journey with destinations along the way because purpose is a process we live in a time of very complex trauma many of you are watching us we're in one of the worst pandemics in history the united states especially so and there is a reason that we are not overcoming because we are simply trying to overcome this with natural means and those natural means are appropriate but there is a spiritual battle being waged at the same time and the disconnected denominational environment of the country has caused a division in the anointing so when all the nation of believers need to come together we are divided on so many things we have racial hatred in the midst of the body of christ we've got uh discrimination between men and women within the body of christ we've got division based upon age in the body of christ now i say this and i'm talking because i can talk about it because i'm a part of what i'm talking about i'm in the body of christ and i believe with all my heart that the natural man is doing everything he can do to quail this pandemic but there are many people that are rebelling against a solution the reality is there is not just a natural solution there is a spiritual solution and those of us need to rally together not worrying about who doesn't know the lord but the nation is at stake we need to come together to join in the oil of god on our lives to come together for one purpose and that is to man up in this situation and bring the strength that's needed the spiritual strength that's needed to overcome this challenge that the nation is struggling with right now there's something in the bible i want to show you regarding this coming together let's go to uh first samuel chapter 22. first samuel 22 and i want to show you something you've seen it before but we want to give a little different look to it this time first samurai chapter 22 and we're going to look at verse 1 and 2 as we watch what a journey of purpose looks like we watch what a journey of purpose looks like every journey of purpose starts with having no idea of every little idea of what you will ultimately become you cannot discover purpose in isolation you cannot discover your gifts your talents without challenges and expectations you cannot find out what your commitment level is to anything unless it's challenged you cannot develop consistency when there are no challenges because consistency is in the face of challenge it's like this will help you one of the keys to overcoming procrastination is this if you don't feel like doing it it's probably critically important what did he say if you don't feel like doing it it is usually critical for your success we always feel like going to the movies or watching tv we don't always feel like going to work that's important but those of us who have mastered controlling or managing our feelings understand that if i don't feel like it i need to start moving in the direction to accomplish it so the journey of purpose begins in the lives of david and the mighty men in chapter 22 of first samuel and verse one and two reads like this david therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave of duluth and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it they went down there to him and everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves unto him and he became a captain over them and they were with him about 400 men now watch how this works so you've got this group of men who are feeling put upon by the environment that they live in the culture that they are faced with every day and the bible says is very clear about what their condition what their state of mind is state of mind says they're in distress state of mind says they're in debt i'll show you what that means state of mind says they're discontented so we're looking at the major challenges for a man is in his mind and his emotions we react even though we don't look like we do that's where things register with a man now i know we've been taught historically that the ladies are emotional and men are psychological i would bear to differ that we are both combinations of each element that women are both emotional and psychological men are both emotional and psychological in the sense that we are both emotional and we are both thinkers it is how we allow those emotions to drive our thinking that causes us to be either great or not as great as we should be so the bible says that um they came to david watch what happens so they come to an individual who has been if you will anointed to be king and david in this context is a type of jesus a type of christ they come to him and decide i'm going to let him lead my life they come in the condition that they are now no one understands this better than david because when he was anointed king they had to come fetch him out of the sheep field bring him in in the condition that he was he did not have time to clean up and the prophet anointed him that day to be a future king he anoints you in the condition that he finds you because that anointing is not just for present designation that anointing is to empower you to complete the journey of purpose oh that was beautiful so the journey of purpose begins for these men in chapter 22 verse 2. any time a man or woman is in denial about themselves denial does not just deny the future denial denies the past if i'm denying my history and denying it admitting it does not mean you're chained to it admitting it means you're acknowledging it existed and it should inspire you to do better to overcome so in the context of these young men if they're in denial about their condition emotionally if they're in denial about how that emotional uh thought process that emotional impact of their environmental situation has occurred if they're in denial about it not only is it denying their past but it will deny them their future because i am clear you cannot get to your future unless you have learned how to manage all that all your past contains so the bible says they're in distress this group of men some are in distress now in the bible this word means either psychological or spiritual distress it means something caused by scarcity it means feeling dismayed something we would call hopeless turn with me keep your finger there go to job let me show you what this looks like in another reference job chapter 7. um yeah job chapter 7. i want to show you what this looks like in another reference um and i want you to go down to verse 11 watch what this this distress how the bible explains this feeling of distress job 7 11 therefore i will not refrain my mouth i will speak in the anguish of my spirit i will complain in the bitterness of my soul distress psychological or spiritual so emotional and thinking distress my mind's in distress or spiritually in distress a loss of hope fear taking over doubt becoming dominant watch how this works so many of the men that came to david in the cave of doom came because of who he was the anointing on his life and all of a sudden those in distress come to him and they decide i need to attach myself to this individual my mind i can remember the day i got saved i remember it like it was yesterday i came because i was in distress i was vocationally professionally it looked fine but spiritually and emotionally i was tormented and i decided to give my life to jesus to attach myself to jesus like these men have attached themselves to david so they're in distress many of us can understand that the pressures of responsibility and where there appears to be no help or appreciation the pressures of expectations not being met the pressures of not fulfilling what we thought we would fulfill in our lives many times that has happened to many of us male and female and it gives you a sense of hopelessness not only in your mind but suddenly hopelessness and doubt creep into your relationship with god now watch what happens not only were they in distress but the bible says they were in debt let's go back see what it looks like debt now we know what that means that which is owed but let's go a little further dead in the bible is something legally do it can be a monetary debt it can be a relational debt but the bible also calls debt sin let's go to matthew 18. let me show you what this looks like with another complexion on it let's see matthew 18 and then we're going to matthew 6. let's see what matthew 18 has to say about this debt matthew 18 and we're going to go down to verse 32. watch what it says then his lord after he had called him said unto him o thou wicked servant i forgave you all that debt because thou desirest me hmm i forgave you all that debt because thou has desirous me so we're talking about monetary debt but also owing a debt of mercy owing a debt of forgiveness why because you have been forgiven by god so many times now forgiveness does not mean acceptance sometimes you have to forgive a person so you can distance yourself emotionally from them forgive them so they don't occupy your mind forgive them it seems so it seems to have so little power but i'm here to tell you when you start to forgive people who have wronged you you displace them in your thinking you take them out of your emotions you move them out of your heart it seems counterintuitive why should i forgive why because the anger feels like strength but it's actually weakening you forgiveness builds strength why because i'm not occupying i'm not allowing that thing that person that situation to occupy my thinking so you forgive people sometimes watch this to get rid of the debt that has been created as if your negative emotion is paying them back for something watch how this works go to matthew chapter six let me show you another look so we see that monetary thing but i told you it was relational also matthew chapter 6 go down to verse 12 and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us so there can be a legal debt there can be relational debt you know how someone's been good to you and you've been extraordinarily trifling and the reason you don't want to be around them the reason you can't look them in the eye is because of that relational debt that you owe them they've been merciful to you they've been kind to you they've been considered to you and you've paid them back in ways that are not very complementary and all of a sudden you realize you owe them an emotional debt a relational debt but then the bible calls all that sin but if i don't forgive i want to forgive like i want to be forgiven the third thing that they talk about in first samuel 22 is discontent now that word in the bible in first samuel 22 verse 2 means bitter it means sadness a bitterness or sadness that can come from family turmoil if you're not careful to guard your heart and your mind a bitterness that can come from personal suffering going through an especially difficult few years and find yourself changing watch this finding yourself being changed by what you went through trying to conform you to the world's reaction the world's mindset based on what you have gone through i don't know what i would have done in my own life if i did not know the lord based on certain major events that happened that should have sent me into a tailspin forever if it had not been for that relationship with god relationship with his word i'm not sure where i'd be at this time it was time for the challenge to force me to man up so there can be hardship in life and we can become discontented with our lives because of hardship go to jeremiah chapter two let me show you something jeremiah chapter two so we can find something yeah jeremiah two and i wanna take a look at verse 19. okay watch this now talk about discontent thine own wickedness shall correct you and your backslidings shall reprove you wow so you know how when you were younger i'm being gracious now when you were younger and you would do things you shouldn't have done and as my grandmother said the chickens would come home to roost in other words you misbehaved because you were trying to get you did something you thought was slick because you thought it was going to get you an advantage and then at the end you ended up getting in trouble holding the bag standing there looking crazy because what you did came back to chastise you that you were the only one left holding the bag how many times have siblings gotten one another into trouble thought they were getting in trouble but also because of wise parents it doesn't sound like them sounds like you wickedness coming back to correct you backslidings reproving watch this or convicting you know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou has forsaken the lord thy god and that my fear is not in you saith the lord god of hosts watch how this works now so this discontent comes from a distance between you and god so this is the spiritual discontent something that impacts the rest of your life when you're upset spiritually it is almost impossible for it not to move into other areas of life it starts to bleed into other major areas of your life so bitterness steps in when we are distant from god hopelessness the outlook becomes hopeless because instead of doing the right thing we start doing unrighteous things and the consequences of those unrighteous things watch this starts to to poison our mind because when we're in denial about our unrighteousness we're in denial about the negative thing that we do even when the consequences come back and meet us front and center so we have to be careful these young men that find david in the cave the bible lets us see their journey and they shift from care from from from the cave they shift from the cave to the special ops group working for david so these guys that were in distress and in debt and discontent both emotionally psychologically and spiritually find themselves with a new reputation in in verse 2 of chapter 22 in for samuel there are these guys that are known by their problem distressed debt and discontent we get up the first samuel 25 and they're known completely by something else they become called the mighty men of valor they manned up so out of the 400 watch this now and this this will intrigue you 37 of them are called mighty men out of the 400 37 of them are really the mighty men now they're in a group they're all called it's like this you have an army of the united states within that army you have special forces so i want you to see it that way so you've got some people that are specifically skilled and according to the word of god 37 of these guys 37 of these men continued to progress and mature to the point they became known as the mighty men of valor let's go to first samuel 25 let me show you something and we'll be almost done in just a second first time to 25 watch where this goes this bible is amazing to me so we started in first century 22 let's go to first samurai 25 and let's go down to verse 13. now watch what happens and david said unto his men gurgee on every man his sword man up and they girded on every man his sword and david also girded up his sword and there went up after david about 400 men and 200 abode by the stuff all right watch the journey now watch the journey so now all of them have become fighters but all have not necessarily become mighty men you need to hear what i'm telling you they all have graduated if you will or progressed or matured past the cave experience passed the distress passed the in debt past pastor discontented as a matter of fact they're never again identified by those three conditions that part of their life is gone why because they attached themselves to the king and david the king the anointed one has taught them what he knows but also they've observed him and learned they've been mentored they've been managed they've been encouraged they've been coached and now all of a sudden the name for them in first chapter 22 verse 2 is no longer mentioned they now have become different kinds of men so 25 13 let us know there's about 400 200 of them minded stuff so watch what happens so you got 200 guys to stay behind and watched everything you got 200 more that go now watch what happens now go to 2nd samuel 23. i'm almost done second samuel 23 and i want to draw your attention to verse 8. these be the names of the mighty men whom david had and he starts to the holy ghost begins to list them now we get down to verse 39 it says 37 in all the mighty men are 37 and all these 37 have begun to perform in ways watch what happens that gives them the title mighty men in other words they didn't take the title without accomplishment the accomplishment drove the new name drove what they were known for not given the title before they had accomplished so what we're dealing with is men who had simply had self-esteem in the cave to men that developed with self-respect what is what's the difference pastor self-esteem you can have you can say you're all that you can give people the impression that you're all that and have accomplished absolutely nothing self-esteem is not based on results results produce self-respect so what happens the function produces the title not the title masquerading as a function you need to hear me now so what do these young men do they make an impact on the nations every man has been born to make an impact not just in the jurisdiction of his life but in the surrounding community every man has been born that the time he lives would be known for his existence i think the last thing i want to show you is first john chapter three impacting the nations let's go to first john chapter three i want to show you something um first john chapter three and let's take a look at verses one two and three all right and we'll close right here behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of god therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not we should be called the sons of god you remember another scripture now we are the sons of god but it does not yet appear what we shall be the progression of the journey of purpose becoming manning up not only meeting the challenges but becoming so qualified you exceed the demands of the challenges around you beloved now we are the sons of god watch this now and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is so the valor of david becomes the valor of those men connected to him let's see what the next verse says and every man has this hope wow every man has this hope in him every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself in other words motivates causes him to audit his behavior change his thinking because he has a hope of something greater watch this being exhibited by his life wow this is powerful as he is pure so we become more christ-like so the journey of purpose when we are inspired to man up is a journey of self-discovery in jesus christ i'm out of time certainly not out of word thank you for joining me for 10 times better share with someone tell them about our conversation invite someone to join our discussions uh during uh sunday nights at 5 30 pre-discussion six o'clock we have our our conversation taught in the word and then when that when that session is over about 30 minutes we go into another discussion i want you to tell somebody about 10 times better and remember there is an image and likeness that you've been created with that god has given you the platform for great things don't deny him and you won't deny yourself i'll see you next

Channel: Bishop David G. Evans

Views: 53

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: OSUBoEunn5A

Length: 36min 57sec (2217 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021