Unity

Good morning everyone!!!!

May you be strong and courageous this week!! Humble yourselves before Him and He will go before you and never leave you!!!

Ps.135:15-18

Rom.12:16

The unity we strive for is not just a unity for its own sake. It is a unity based on our common purpose, which is giving testimony of the one true God.

Soldiers involved in a battle don’t care about the color of the person next to them, as long as they are shooting in the same direction. When individuals or communities face challenging circumstances, they need a unified approach. United we stand, divided we fall is not just a catchphrase to post on social media or put on the bumper of your car. It’s truth. Yet, as we see through the cultural events unfolding these days, if this truth and these values aren’t passed down to the next generations, we will continue to face chaos and distress.

When men fail to transfer the faith down to the next generation, we wind up with young people who do not know the Lord, His heart, or His rule. A culture will begin to disintegrate when their worship turns away from God and toward idols. The idols might be money, power, prestige or even education—but whatever they are, these idols cannot take the place of God. No idol can save or rescue you when you need it most.

When God is no longer put first, He will do what He always did in Scripture and throughout history. He will back off. And we will reap the consequences brought on when we marginalize Him. 

 What areas in our culture today are experiencing the greatest amount of division?

Kingdom unity for men

John 17

John.13:35

Just hours before Jesus Christ laid down His life for us, He prayed for unity among His followers. His prayer emphasized His desire for those loved Him to be “one.” The desire He expressed wasn’t just a meme or a slogan for “Unity Month” or “Cross-Cultural Sunday.” It was meant to be a way of life and a sign of what His Spirit was doing within His church. It was a mandate from our Commander in Chief that we be one with Him (vertically) and, as a result, one with each other (horizontally).

When kingdom men live a life of unity, we are a witness to the world of the King under whom we serve. Getting along in authentic unity is a sign that glorifies God. By it we manifest His glory in history. All our praying, preaching, worship and Bible studies can never bring about the fullest possible manifestation of God’s presence like the way we function in a spirit of unity can.

That’s why the subject of our unity was at the core of Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17. Nothing reveals God’s glory like His people working together in unity. It is a signal to the watching world that something has happened in human hearts when they see them working together in love. Our authentic connection to one another in the body of Christ serves as a testimony to our connection with Christ. 

 What are the benefits of living in unity in the body of Christ?

Kingdom unity for kingdom men

1 Cor. 1:10

Ps. 133:1

Everybody’s talking about unity these days, but what does it really mean?

Unity isn’t just about getting along; it’s about getting things done. We’ll never experience a movement of kingdom men rising in our nation until we have kingdom men relating to each other in the body of Christ in an authentic, mutually honoring manner. 

Racial reconciliation isn’t just about playing a video of an ethnic preacher in your white church on Sunday, or vice versa. Neither is it about reading books that deal with racial injustice and posting online that you did. While those things are good, they—in and of themselves—are not unity. 

Unity takes place when people join together with a oneness of purpose. Unity means working together in harmony toward a shared vision and goal. It involves doing justice together, not just talking about it. And unity isn’t uniformity or sameness. Just as the Godhead is made up of three distinct persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—each is unique in personhood and yet at the same time one in essence. Unity reflects a oneness that does not negate individuality. 

We see God’s creative variety displayed in the different shapes, colors and styles of humanity. Each of us, in one way or another, is unique.

Unity occurs when we combine our unique strengths and skills as we head toward a common goal. It is the sense that the thing we are gathered for and moving toward is bigger than our individual preferences. That common goal is manifesting God’s kingdom on earth.

 What can you do to increase kingdom unity in your world?

The fire of God

Morning everyone!!!!

Just a friendly warning!!!! Today's passage is dynamite!!!!

Bless you all!!!

“*The Fire of God”* 

 Isaiah 55:6-7

This week we’ve explored how men on fire are alight with…

· the fire of heritage—finding the good in their past and building on it

· the fire of battle—fighting for self-mastery and for the victory of good over evil

· the fire of destiny—striving to fulfill the purpose for which we were made

· the fire of friendship—hooking in with a band of brothers who can make us better men

· the fire of love—persevering in our most crucial relationships

· the fire of legacy—investing in others

But there’s one more fire we must consider: the fire of God. That is, submitting to and worshiping our Maker. 

We must connect with God if we are going to become the men we are made to be, if we are going to have the fires of noble manhood burning in our lives. And the reason is simple. God made us. This means he knows how we run best. He also designed us to function in connection with him. To try to be good men without him in our lives is like us trying to be elite athletes on a diet of cupcakes and Kool-Aid. It just isn’t going to happen.

What I’ve just said is true of all human beings. Yet I want you to hear this truth and apply it to yourself as a man. God made you a man. God made the nature of manhood. God created the way you think as a man, the desires you have as a man, your strength as a man, and your purpose as a man. He is intimately involved in all that you are as a man, and he is eager that you emerge as a righteous, fulfilled man.

God makes us men on fire as he realigns our inner mechanisms as men, he heals us of our wounds, he gives us resources we would not have on our own, and he grants us the authority to do what we are made to do. Yet above all of this, he fills our lives so we are no longer fighting an inner vacuum, no longer moving through this world like crazed addicts trying to get a new fix to cover the ache. He fills us with himself. This is how he also makes us men.

It is time for your heart to be on fire with the presence of the Maker of men.

“Seek the Lord while he may be found” (Isaiah 55:6). Choose the challenge that is right for you.

 · *_If you’ve been distant from God because of offense with religion or some other force, come home. Get connected. It’s time. 

· If you are a man of faith but find yourself without help from that faith for being a man, then make the changes you need to make. Good men are standing by to help. Find them.*

The Fire of Friendship

By Charl Human

Scripture reading: Proverbs 27:9-17

You have likely read the same headlines I have, headlines that report the surveys that tell the tale. Most men in the Western world today cannot name a best friend. 

The average man not only cannot name a best friend but also cannot name anyone he would call if he was out of town and his son was put in jail. Who could he trust with such a thing? The average man doesn’t know. 

He also doesn’t know who he would call to help his wife at three in the morning if the dog has run away or a child is in crisis or the pipes have broken and the house is flooding. Who would you trust to go to your house in the middle of the night when your wife is in her pajamas and she’s panicked and needs comforting? Most men have no such friends. Do you?

We are made for more. We are made to have men in our lives who inspire us with their spirit and their coaching and their belief in us and their fun and their drive. We are made to be close to men who make us better merely by the thought of them, merely because we remember the covenants we’ve made and the challenges we’ve issued and the expectations they’ve lovingly laid on our lives. We are meant to laugh and hurt and yearn and strive and—yes!—achieve because we have a noble band of brothers.

“As iron sharpens iron,” says Proverbs, “so one person sharpens another.” And it’s true: We are better together. We need each other to thrive. We must do life with a band of brothers, or we will fail to be what we are meant to be. These are truths we must restore to the culture of men in our time. The fire of manly friendship must burn brilliantly in our souls.

Now for the good news. We can build manly friendships. This isn’t a matter of chance or being born with the right personality or having a talent that draws people or being blessed with wealth. There are skills you can master to begin having heroic men in your life. These are part of the manly lore we should have received from our fathers. Most of us didn’t. Still, we can reclaim what we need, build wisely in our time, and pass these skills on to the generations that follow us.

We can change the dreadful statistics of our age. We can turn the deadly trends. We can be men transformed by manly friendships.

 Pray to find a friend. Pray to be a friend. Pray to build better friendships. Pray to model manly friendship.

The Fire of Destiny

By Charl Human

Psalm 139:13-16

You likely already know you have a destiny. Most men do. They have sensed it nearly all their lives. It is an awareness that stirs in them. It is as though there is a voice ever whispering, “You are made for something more.” It is a growing certainty of a purpose. A prior design. Gifts have been given. Experiences have been orchestrated. It is all about work that is to be done, an impact that is to be made.

We sense that this is true, but we often feel we live beneath it. This is because we do. Yet this is the greatest confirmation that a destiny exists for us: the grief we feel when we live small and immoral lives and the disappointment we feel when we settle for less. 

That there is a destiny set for our lives is great news. It explains much that has troubled us as men: Why am I uniquely made, so different from the crowd? Because I am made for a purpose, and all my uniqueness, once tempered, will help to bring it about. Why can I never settle, never be fully satisfied in any one phase of life? I believe it’s because destiny refuses to leave me alone. Destiny calls us on—to more, to greater, to deeper, to all that still awaits.

It was God who chose and crafted and determined purposes for us long before we were made. Walking out destiny, then, is a matter of synchronizing with God in the fulfilling of his purposes for our lives. This is the grand adventure we are called to as men. “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).

You likely sense that there is a purpose for your life. You may even be able to look back over your days and see the patterns of providence in your life: the serendipitous moments and the deliverances and the turning points that no man could have engineered. These are signposts for you. They are evidence that God has been at work. What is important is that you are willing to accept God’s claim on your life and you are willing to pay the price to live out the grand adventure of your destiny.

 Are you willing to believe that you have a God-given purpose and then fight for it? Are you willing to allow your life to be defined by a fire of destiny burning in your soul?

The fire of heritage

By Charl Human

 Jeremiah 6:16

Here is a lesson we must cling to all our days. We are made to live our lives with good and noble things from the past flowing through us. We are made to be empowered and lifted by what has come before us, by what has been left to us by our ancestors and by what our fathers and mothers have planted in our souls. In short, we are made to be set on fire by the nobility of our heritage. This is one of the fires of true manhood.

It has been said that a people without a heritage are easily persuaded. It is true, and though this usually is said of nations, it is certainly true of individuals. A man who does not know where he comes from, what people and history he belongs to, is lost. He cannot know fully who he is. He cannot know completely what lives inside of him. He is forced to live as though he has come into the world unarmed and alone, as though he has no belonging and has received nothing from what came before him. He must make himself into all that he becomes. He has been given nothing. It is a terrible burden.

Yet when a man knows something of his heritage, it helps him locate himself. He learns that he comes from a people. They had certain gifts. They did noble deeds. They may have done some regrettable things too, but it is the higher things about them that their descendants want to grasp. All that was admirable and powerful and inspiring about this people lives in those who proceed from them.

Those living today must make sure the greatness of their people surfaces from within them, illuminates them, and elevates them. The goal is not a narrow tribalism or arrogance. The goal is to allow what came before us to tell us who we are and to lift us to greater heights.

As the Lord says,

Stand at the crossroads and look;

ask for the ancient paths,

ask where the good way is, and walk in it,

and you will find rest for your souls.

Now let’s talk about you. Perhaps the stories of your family history are well known and much rehearsed. Good. Then take hold of the meaning of what has come before you and make it yours. Learn it. Live it. Celebrate it. Pass it on to others.

It is more likely that you know a bit about your heritage but not much, and you are eager for more. Dig in a bit. Ask some questions. Learn what you can. Turn its meaning to prayer and affirmation. It will change you. Heritage always does.

Don’t stand by, hoping someone comes to you and embeds the meaning of the past in your heart and mind. Seize it! Take what is yours from the past, live out its meaning, and pass it on to those who come after you.

What now?

By Charl Human

Prov.1:7

Prov.4:1-7

Prov.17:17

I’ve talked a lot about becoming a good man, so it makes sense to me to end our time by talking about the best man, Jesus: “ _Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people”_ (Luke 2:52). 

It’s a short verse, but in it we find four distinct ways Jesus grew, matured, and lived.

 *Wisdom* is important to God because by wisdom, we grow into the men we are supposed to be: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God for it” (James 1:5). In step with Jesus, we can begin every day chasing wisdom and building truth into our souls. We must take the time to read, listen, and engage with the things that will broaden our minds and deepen our understanding of His truth.

 *Stature* refers to Jesus’s physical growth. Luke 2:52 demonstrates that our physical health and growth are important to God. Taking care of our bodies is a necessary aspect of becoming a whole man. This will look different for all of us. For me, it’s self-discipline of eating healthier, getting outside, and sticking to a regular workout routine. For us to live and move at our best in this world, we must take care of the bodies God gives us. 

 *Favor* perhaps is the most important of all the ways Jesus grew, matured, and lived, for out of it our healing and strength will grow. Jesus devoted time to His relationship with His heavenly Father. Finding favor with God is integral to our journey of becoming good men. Whatever you need to be doing to grow closer to and foster obedience to God, do it!

Jesus said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples” (John 13:35). To do this thing right and walk this path well, we need other people. We need to love and to be loved. To know and to be known. To strengthen others and to be strengthened. Dedicate time and energy to build relationships. 

Create practical ways to move forward on this path of becoming a good man. More than anything, I want you to remember that we are not perfect and never will be, but we are created with a purpose that will change the world and echo into eternity.

Prayer: God, show me what practical steps I am to take today as I commit to becoming Your good man. In Jesus’s name. Write down what God shows you.