Every Man Ministries: Recent Episodes
Kenny Luck
Inspiring, supporting and encouraging men to be healthy in their spiritual life and in their relationships with others, offering them the tools they need to face today’s challenges and be all they can be for God, for their families, and for themselves.
Whether or not you know it, we are at war. All day and everyday there are dark forces doing battle with the Kingdom of the Living God. The question is not whether or not you are in the battle, it’s are you winning? And if we are to win, where does this power come from? Join us for the conclusion of Ephesians for Everyman.
I remember when my kids were little, they were constantly imitating me. Sometimes they were being cute, other times they were being sassy. I loved it either way. A father loves to see his actions, his heart and his values on display in his kids. The same is true of you and I. Our father loves to see us live as “imitators of God, in everything we do”. How can God’s man live out a calling so large? Join us for week Five of Ephesians for Everyman to find out how.
We don’t live our faith out in a vacuum. There is no such thing as a Lone Ranger, or Marlboro Man in the family of Christ. We need one another. Period. So, is our role simply to police and discipline one another? No. God’s man needs men to call him up, not simply call him out. Join us for week four of Ephesians for Everyman, where we seek to live in real and authentic community as we follow Jesus.
We have been saved. Rescued. Brought back to life. But for what? What were we saved to? To amass things? To obtain power, possessions or new and higher positions? No! We exist to make sure Heaven is a crowded place. How do we move from seeing the sharing of the Gospel as a burden and a chore, into the truth that it is a beautiful privilege? Join us for week three of Ephesians for Everyman.
We once were dead. Not sick and in need of a few vitamins or some r & r…we were dead. Period. It was then….at our most vulnerable and hopeless, that Christ stepped in and brought us back to life. But what does it look like to walk this new life out, in the spaces and places God has placed us? Join us for week two of Ephesians for Everyman.
It is easy – even natural – to thank God for things that benefit you. But when people and circumstances conspire to cause us pain it messes with the one thing that can sabotage all gratitude – our expectations. Life is full of such moments. There is the life that we thought we would live or […]
A man will pay a high price to win his prize. If you had the money would you pay $3.1 million dollars for a 612 pound blue fin tuna? Answer: “No!” Well, the owner of the largest sushi chain in Japan did and he was overjoyed and grateful to possess it. He was ALL IN for […]
It’s all perspective right? Or perhaps more accurately, it is a battle for perspective. When our circumstances appear to be aligning with our hope-filled expectations, the sky is bluer, the trees are greener, the birds are singing, and people are a blessing. What a wonderful world right? But life can turn on a dime when […]
Celebrating big victories has a half-life, the party eventually must end. Similarly, being safe from danger doesn’t mean you are doing good as a person. No one may be chasing you but you still have to fight the war within your own heart. This has been the story of God’s people throughout Scripture and, not […]
Celebrating big victories has a half-life, the party eventually must end. Similarly, being safe from danger doesn’t mean you are doing good as a person. No one may be chasing you but you still have to fight the war within your own heart. This has been the story of God’s people throughout Scripture and, not […]
Most of us have seen a good “cliff-hanger” movie. The formula is predictable: the clock is ticking, imminent danger is coming, there are limited or no options, a dramatic intervention, and then a mix of relief and celebration wash over you with a good catharsis. The unspoken conclusion? THAT was a close one! History is […]
Most of us have seen a good “cliff-hanger” movie. The formula is predictable: the clock is ticking, imminent danger is coming, there are limited or no options, a dramatic intervention, and then a mix of relief and celebration wash over you with a good catharsis. The unspoken conclusion? THAT was a close one! History is […]
Every person ever created knows there’s more than just this life and desires that MORE! You see it in every culture across the globe. What you also see is that instead of relating to, following, worshipping, and giving our lives to the one true original Creator, we settle for forgeries and fakes – gods that […]
Every person ever created knows there’s more than just this life and desires that MORE! You see it in every culture across the globe. What you also see is that instead of relating to, following, worshipping, and giving our lives to the one true original Creator, we settle for forgeries and fakes – gods that […]
We all believe our opinions are right, that is until we’re proven wrong. But can we gain wisdom before falling on our faces? Is pain our only teacher? What about the current generation? The men who have gone before us and have so much to offer us? If we’re the generation whose role it is […]
As kids we have all played games where our performance was being counted on to “keep it going”. You’d shoot three point shots, and after a few people in a row made it someone would shout out “don’t break the chain!” They were calling on you to perform. Connecting the past success with the future […]
The impact of a connected life is difficult to measure. Truly, the impact is generational. But…this is yet another aspect of community that is has become exceedingly rare today…multi-generational community. Multi-generational discipleship. Coaching. Teaching. Mentoring. In many ways, we are losing the communal nature of our faith that defined the early church. How do we reclaim these […]
In the most connected generation of all time, we often feel completely disconnected. We’ve bought the lie that digital connection is real and meaningful connection. We’ve associated Facebook friends with…actual friends. What do we need as God’s men? What type of friendships should we pursue? True friendships, warriors of the heart who will fight with […]
No one ever wakes up and decides to seek a solitude life. It isn’t a single decision that pushes the people in our lives, out. The drift into isolation is as slow as it is damaging. As men we need to heed the warning signs. Where are we pulling back, rather than stepping in? Where […]
It wasn’t long before God looked upon Adam and said “this isn’t good”. Not that Adam wasn’t good, or that his situation was sinful…it just wasn’t TOV. Tov is a Hebrew word which carries the idea of perfect goodness, of life as it should be…of the life lived out in community. We were designed for […]
We’ve seen how God changed Paul, The Demoniac, Moses & in this session we turn our eyes towards The Rock. Simon Peter. The coward. The brave. The passionate and often misguided. The one who Christ made STRONG and made NEW. Where is it that God desires to give you new strength? Because, for Gods man….power is a PROMISE! You won’t want to miss session 3 of One Changed Man.
What is in control of your life? Who, or what makes the decisions? What calls the shots? Is it your appetite? Desires? Plans? Hopes? Dreams….or is it Jesus? What Christ desires of us is surrender. That we would relinquish what control we think we have, over to the One who holds all things. But…it’s not as easy as it sounds! So many voices vying for our attention, so many things claiming to be true…how does God’s man know what to do? Join us for week two of One Changed Man, where we’ll unpack the freedom we find when Jesus Christ becomes the King over our entire lives.
We often wonder what difference our life is making, or if it is making a difference at all. In such a vast world it is easy to feel insignificant. BUT…the Creator God has planned, purposed, and placed Every Man to make an impact for His Kingdom. The true question is not if my life is having an impact, but rather what kind of impact is my life having? As God begins to change us, to transform us He always does so with a purpose in mind. We are changed, to be used to change others. What can our God do, through One Changed Man? In this series we’ll study the lives of 4 men whom God changed, and then used powerfully to change many others.
In the Star Wars meta-verse there is one saying you can count on when something intense or meaningful is going to take place. Do you know what it is? When one character in the resistance must leave or separate from another brother in the resistance to head out to battle the dark side, the one staying will always say to the other: "May the force be with you." Upon leaving earth to return to heaven Jesus asked the Father to protect his men who would remain on earth to fight evil and advance his Kingdom as well. His prayer would travel down through the ages to this moment, to me, and to you as we enter the battles of our era in his name. He asked for UNITY among his men so the world would know that He was the Son of God. In other words, Jesus says "The force is with US." He says that the power of his kingdom will manifest when his people are unified AS ONE.
Ever heard a friendship described as two people being "thick as thieves"? It means they have secrets and experiences only they know about - they are bonded by unique history and events. Their connection is THICK. The fact of friendships is that the good ones cost you. A price has been paid for it - choices that reflect uninhibited commitment. It is rare air to find and keep a relationship like this. Few reach that space - as it should be. They have "place." Imagine the small triangle space at the top a large pyramid versus the large spacious base. That's the difference between consecrated relationships which are few and casual relationships which are many. The Bible says to "consecrate yourselves to the Lord" or set that relationship apart as special. The same is true with godly friendships. Who in your life is "set apart" as friends under God? Who is at the top of the pyramid? Who is a true forever brother? What does spiritually "thick" look like?
No one disagrees with this simple fact: relationships are a risk- especially at the start. You can't know before the fact if they are gonna work out. At the same time, when your risk of connecting was rewarded with close, lifelong friendship you believe the risk we took was worth it! The same is true with God. We must - by faith - risk toward the relationship without knowing the outcome in advance and we are glad we did! Jesus delights in our faith placed in him, his ways, and his words. If that's the model - risking for relationship - then how does that apply to the family of God and being a brother? For those relationships to be great shouldn't we have to risk as well? But how? In what specific ways? Are you ready to take the leap into better community? If so, God says you are gonna have to take some new risks.
Masculine and intimacy are not a natural pairing of words. And yet, survey after survey shows that the greatest need among men to combat isolation is closeness with a few other men. If you follow Jesus, know THIS: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are close. The Bible represents our own relationship with God as a Good Shepherd who loves the sheep and the sheep desperately need him and each other. But because of cultural, familial, religious, or traumatic factors men are failing at friendships. In fact, every 11 minutes, desperation and deception win, a man believes a suicide lie and takes life - literally - with his own hand. While you may not be in that category, every man is vulnerable when isolated to believe things. The "solution" is community - the real kind you drink in like a fine wine and treasure. Do you have that? Solid, consistent, meaningful connection is God's plan. But no one can force you. Could it be that the missing piece of your "success" formula is simply better friendships?GO TO: promisedlandliving.com/emm
God has a plan for your friendships. Do you know what that is? Seems silly but most men don't enter into things which could change the course of their lives dramatically without doing a little research first. But when it comes to the men closest to us we tend to have a "go with he flow mentality" as long as we are having fun and no one is getting harmed. This lack of intentionality in community is definitely NOT God's plan. In fact, God's Word is crystal clear with respect to what he wants for your community of buddies who know Jesus and are connected to you -- and it is not as simple as gathering and studying the Bible. It SO MUCH MORE! The bottom line for Christ-centered brotherhood is a willingness to risk in the direction of your identity in Christ and then live that identity out with other men in community as intentionally as possible.
What one word comes to mind when you think about God? Loving? All powerful? Gracious? Truth? God is many things all at once but a word not frequently used to describe God is RELATIONAL. In Jesus' final prayer to the Father about and for us he paints a picture of interwoven relationship that he desires for you and me with God at the center: "...that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in You, that they may also be in US, so that the world will believe You sent Me." Close, eternal bonds are the driving force for the Godhead and his people. Can the same be said of God's men today? Are we connected eternally first and socially, professionally, and ethnically second? Is our identity and its connection to eternity resulting in a powerfully intimate and strong community? Jesus said to his men, "For one is your Teacher and you are all brothers." Then, just like now, acting and connecting like forever brothers holds the key to the life God wants for us. You can't become like Jesus by yourself. You can if you have FOREVER BROTHERS taking you deeper. Do you?
“It is only the true gospel that protects the heart of God’s man. But, what does it protect him from? From the love of money, from the pursuit of worldly things, and from ever thinking he can either EARN or LOSE the love of God. For God’s man, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is everything. Don’t miss the sixth and final session in our series “Inside Out”.
Why is it that the elderly are so revered in scripture, and so ignored in culture? When did men decide to take cues from our culture or our flesh rather than the word of God? 1 Timothy 5 will begin with a quick counter cultural calling for God's man to honor the more aged members of society...but the truth doesn't stop there! Join us for week 5 of From The Inside Out!
Our culture is eroding truth itself. We have subjective versions of truth; your truth, my truth…but, how do we know what is ACTUALLY the truth? We will only be able to spot a lie, to the extent that we know the truth. So what do we do? As God’s Man we feast on the truth…DAILY! Join us as we unpack 1 Timothy 4, in our series “From The Inside Out!
So many things seek to control the heart, and the life of God’s man. The desire to accumulate and achieve, the things we do for fun, the quest for meaning and purpose…but God’s man is to be controlled by one thing… the Spirit of God. Join us for week 3 of our series “Inside Out” where we continue to unpack Paul’s encouragement to Timothy.
In any battle, in any skirmish or military effort one of the initial and most important tactical attacks….is upon communication. If you can disrupt communication, you can defeat your enemy. For God’s Man, prayer is our direct line of communication to our leader…Jesus Christ. Prayer is the method through which God reveals His plan, encourages our hearts, and leads our lives. The question is…are we men of prayer? Will we become men of prayer? Join us for session two as we unpack the power of a praying Man!
Everything that God wants to unlock in our lives, all of the places He wants to use us powerfully, everything He desires to do THROUGH us….begins by things unlocking WITHIN us. In a time when he deeply needed encouragement, Timothy received a letter from his lifelong mentor and friend..Paul. Through the book of 1 Timothy we will find out that God’s man is made strong in the inner places, so that he can build the kingdom in the spaces and places God has placed Him. The Christian life is truly lived…. From The Inside Out.
TO REGISTER FOR THE EMM PROMISE LAND LIVING GROUP SIGN UP AT:https://promisedlandliving.com/emm/When things are not going well materially in a man's life he tends to believe that things aren't going well spiritually. The thought is: "Maybe God isn't pleased with how I am living my life?" The translation or thinking behind that thought is that God is less present in financial adversity and more present in financial prosperity. WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! We all know poor people who live lives rich in love and God and rich people who live lives bankrupt in the same. So that can't be right and, according to the Bible, isn't! So how should we think about material prosperity? What should our attitude be about our financial condition? How do we get our heads right about this all consuming emphasis of life so that our peace is not robbed and we live joyfully and gratefully in God? Hit PLAY on session 5 of The Secret Life with Kenny Luck and find out.
Time is to relationships is what oxygen is to life - you can't have one without the other. The fact of the matter is that every man wants great relationships but not every man disciplines himself toward that strong hope. Any man who has ever taken an interest in a woman understands this! If he hopes to be with her in any way, he must discipline himself to get her attention, spend time, and risk acceptance or rejection. When it comes to getting close to God, that same hope and that same pursuit is met with acceptance one hundred percent of the time. Oh, and God loves when it is just you and him. Do we dare stand him up? Not if we desire closeness and connection. Join men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck for a deep dive into Jesus' call for a secret life of spiritual disciplines.
My third grade teacher wrote on my progress report "Kenny is a bright student but he has diahrrea of the mouth." WOW. Point taken. I said a lot of words but they were not connected in the moment and I was not self aware - ruining the hope for meaningful connection with anybody! Jesus says "When you pray don't heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them." WOW. This is strong medicine when it comes to the discipline of prayer and what meaningful conversation with God looks like. What would Jesus write on our PRAYER PROGRESS REPORT? Sometimes we need to get it straight from Jesus - unfiltered. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck on how a secret life of prayer can change everything.
Public visibility is the wallpaper of today's culture. Before the advent of social media only the notorious or the glorious became visible by virtue of their victories, their vice or their violence. Infamous. The rest of humanity remained unseen. Being seen is a primal human desire but being seen by God who has perfect knowledge, constant presence, and offers full acceptance - like the bible teaches - is seemingly not enough for most Christians. So in response, and in an evil twist, Christians use their faith to be seen by others. True in Jesus time. True now. True of you? "That's not me!" you say? Self righteousness is not only powerfully deceptive, it's subtle but NOT a secret to those around you and to God himself. At stake? Your glory or God's glory. One life makes religious life public by intention and the other makes it hidden by intention. Curious which is you? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for the answer to a challenging issue facing all Christians.
It is the stuff of news headlines when the private life of a public person goes viral. People are hungry to know what goes on in the private worlds of others lives - especially when they work hard to keep things unknown! The Bible says that there is no such thing as secret life when there is God. We can hide things from people. We can keep our thoughts to ourselves. Or we can compartmentalize the reality of God's omniscience neatly boxed away on a shelf in our brain to make space for certain behaviors. In fact, many times our hidden life reveals the person we don't want to be. But Jesus says there is another secret life that we can live that is invisible to men but visible to God which he desires to bless which forces a choice. We can live a secret life God will ultimately reveal or we can live a secret life that God will ultimately reward. Which life are you living? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful session introducing you to the secret life God sees, knows, and wants you to live with him.
For so many, death and hope cannot coexist. Death is the ultimate expression of hope that failed….but not for God’s man! Through Christ, we realize that death can contain incredible hope…in fact, it is through the death of Christ that all hope is birthed! But how can we be prepared, aware and ready when our number is called? Join us as we complete chapter 4 of 1 Thess.
If the enemy can lower our view of scripture, he wins. Such a challenging and ominous reality in a world that is continuing to lower its view of the Bible. BUT, God’s man recognizes that the words of Paul to the Thessalonians were, in fact, the very words of God brought by the Holy Spirit! Our view of the word shapes our view of everything! Join us as we jump into the first 12 verses of chapter 4.
Culture has sold us a brand of Christianity that promised no pain, no struggle and no conflict. Health, wealth and prosperity all wrapped up in an easy life…..but Paul loved us enough to lay it out plainly. We were not only promised troubles…we were destined for them BUT God’s man can find peace, strength and even joy in the struggle. How? Tune into week 3!
The unity between us, comes from the Spirit of God living within us. Oftentimes, the challenges we faith in this live cause us to retreat. To retreat physically into isolation, and mentally and physically into a desperate aloneness making us vulnerable to the enemy. How can we turn towards one another during our most challenging seasons? How can our faith encourage another, and how can the faith of another protect a protective shield to me in times of trouble? Tune in to find out!
We live in an age where people cling tightly to their beliefs, and aren’t afraid to cancel those who disagree. Our culture is politically minded and dangerously divided. I wonder, is the church any different? Christ’s final prayer was that we would be unified. That we would be one. Truly, if Christ is what unites us? What thoughts, opinions or viewpoints could be strong enough to divide us? As God’s men we must reclaim the unity of the body of Christ if we are to move forward and display Jesus to a world that desperately needs to meet Him.
GOD is a giver. In case you have ever doubted that aspect of his character or plain forgot that, just remind yourself that God "so loved the world that he GAVE his only Son" to save you. Ponder that again. Unlike us, God is not a witholder when the stakes are high. God does not operate on the scarcity principle. God unleashes generosity on us like parents unleash it on Christmas morning - we don't deserve all the stuff we get but we get it anyways! So if that is him, if that is what he models, then the actions of his kids follows the example of the Father right? We multiply what he gives us with others right? Hard stop.The answers to those simple but raw questions is the acid test of real Christianity. The other stuff is fluff. Generosity reveals our reality spiritually and will shape our eternity.
Anybody ever said to you, "You are so good at that?" Remembering that the least objective person about you is you (lol), ALL of us have abilities that we possess that rank higher than others. We often say things like "I am better with hammer than I am with a paint brush" or "I don't have the musical gene in this family." Some of our abilities we were born with and some that we have are "gifts" from the Holy Spirit. God's Word says that in both cases - He is the source and he wants you to use and multiply them for his purposes. He knows what talents and gifts He has given you and why. Do you? Join pastor and men's expert Kenny Luck for a deep dive into your personal and spiritual skill sets and how you can use them to fulfill his purposes.
One of the hardest truths a man must face is this: if he is not doing relationships right, he's not doing life right. When people come to our memorial or celebration of life, they will not be talking about our bank balance, where we went on vacation, what kind of car we drove, or brands we clothed ourselves in. They will only have one thing to talk about at length or else nothing to talk about - how did we love and serve other people. Same with God when you land in heaven on other side. He will say: "You're in! Now let's talk about what you did with the people I placed strategically in your life. Did you love them the way i loved you?" Smart men discipline themselves toward relationships and making them great. Join pastor and men's expert Kenny Luck for this life altering session on getting relationships right in order to prepare for heaven right.
Sometimes opportunity knocks softly and we have to be paying really close attention. Other times opportunity slaps us across the face and there is immediate recognition and response. The Bible says the moment any person chooses to begin and eternally continue a relationship with Jesus Christ, it is a magnitude 8.0 earthquake on the opportunity scale. God says: “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” THWACK! Are you working OUT and multiplying what God has worked IN to you? Join author and men's expert Kenny Luck for this powerful session on what personal Christ-formation and transformation involves and looks like in God's man.
Think tools. We LOVE tools and the local hardware outlet proves it. Some of us can't get enough of them! But whether you have a workbench with lots of tools or a mini-tool box with just the basic essentials, if a tool finds it's way into your hand there is a specific job it is designed to do. Tools are created to deliver for us the expressed purpose of their creators and we love them for that - even thank God for a well designed tool that saves us time and energy. What about you? What about your creator? What about his specific intentions for you? Just like there is nothing more frustrating than trying to untighten a deeply imbedded screw with a butter knife, many men are frustrated and unfulfilled because they give themselves to purposes they were never created to engage in. The Bible says you are an instrument useful to the Master, prepared by him for specific works. Adios frustration. Hello fulfillment of His vision.
Givers need receivers. Think Birthdays. Think Christmas. Think of thoughtful surprises. We give and others receive or vice-versa. But after the wrapping is undone, the gift is received, and thanks are offered, what we really would like to know is this: did what we give get used and enjoyed or go in a closet or garage or get re-gifted? Bottom line? We earnestly hope that our gift gets multiplied. The "gift that keeps on giving" is the goal! In your relationship with God, when he gives things to you, he not only tracks your initial response but, more importantly, what we do with what gives us. Think life. Think salvation. Think relationships. Think natural and spiritual gifts. Think material resources. Just like us, the Bible declares that His hope is the same: "I want what I have given him to multiply." JOIN men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful five part series that will help you understand God's mind on what he gives you. In the process, you will become a multiplier that will receive a "Well done!" from your Maker and Master on your appointed day.
Whether or not you know it, we are at war. All day and everyday there are dark forces doing battle with the Kingdom of the Living God. The question is not whether or not you are in the battle, it’s are you winning? And if we are to win, where does this power come from? Join us for the conclusion of Ephesians for Everyman.
Kenny Luck shares his journey from a difficult childhood to encountering God and experiencing a radical transformation. Growing up in a military family with a distant father, Kenny found solace in superheroes and a longing for significance. He eventually realized that worldly achievements and relationships couldn't fill the void inside him. In a moment of desperation, Kenny cried out to Jesus and had a powerful encounter that changed his life forever. Now, he encourages men to fully commit to a relationship with Christ and experience true life. In this part of the conversation, Kenny Luck discusses how his friends and family reacted to his change after becoming a Christian. He also shares his experiences of living out the truth and being accepted in the workplace as a Christ follower. Kenny talks about his transition from the secular workplace to ministry and the challenges and difficulties he faced along the way. He emphasizes the importance of aligning expectations with God's journey and finding redemption in suffering and unmet expectations. Throughout it all, Kenny stays grounded in his faith. In this conversation, Kenny Luck shares his journey of finding grounding and purpose in God's love. He emphasizes the importance of being rooted in God's love and seeking life-giving water. Kenny discusses how God's love overcomes fear and transforms relationships. He highlights the significance of living in the love of the Father and experiencing authentic connections. Kenny also talks about the power of giving and receiving love and the importance of passing on the truth to future generations. He concludes by sharing about his ministry, Everyman Ministries, and how it spreads the truth of God's love.
I remember when my kids were little, they were constantly imitating me. Sometimes they were being cute, other times they were being sassy. I loved it either way. A father loves to see his actions, his heart and his values on display in his kids. The same is true of you and I. Our father loves to see us live as “imitators of God, in everything we do”. How can God’s man live out a calling so large? Join us for week Five of Ephesians for Everyman to find out how.
We don’t live our faith out in a vacuum. There is no such thing as a Lone Ranger, or Marlboro Man in the family of Christ. We need one another. Period. So, is our role simply to police and discipline one another? No. God’s man needs men to call him up, not simply call him out. Join us for week four of Ephesians for Everyman, where we seek to live in real and authentic community as we follow Jesus.
We have been saved. Rescued. Brought back to life. But for what? What were we saved to? To amass things? To obtain power, possessions or new and higher positions? No! We exist to make sure Heaven is a crowded place. How do we move from seeing the sharing of the Gospel as a burden and a chore, into the truth that it is a beautiful privilege? Join us for week three of Ephesians for Everyman.
We once were dead. Not sick and in need of a few vitamins or some r & r…we were dead. Period. It was then….at our most vulnerable and hopeless, that Christ stepped in and brought us back to life. But what does it look like to walk this new life out, in the spaces and places God has placed us? Join us for week two of Ephesians for Everyman.
Ephesians for Everyman is a 6 week adventure where we will seek to lay aside our Identity Issues by trusting God’s word to tell us who we are as His men. Who are you? Such a simple question, and yet so much rides on the answer. How do we find out exactly who it is that we are? How do we live out the reality that identity informs activity? Well, if we know who we are, then we’ll know what to do. Join us for week one of Ephesians for Everyman.
Intuition. Instinct. A sixth sense. A nose for what is happening that is unseen but real. A soldier says "something is not right" and they halt a platoon but in the moment they can't explain why and others don't sense what they sense. Today we might say our "spidey senses" are tingling. Military researchers call it "perceptual expertise" or the ability to recognize things in your environment reliably, automatically and quickly. If you are God's man the Bible calls for an "alert mind" that is sensitive to your surroundings and environment. More specifically, Jesus tells his followers the ability to recognize and sense the Kingdom, the battle, and the opportunity to take action is central to fulfilling your personal missions for him. How good is your Kingdom intuition on the battlefield? Join pastor and men's expert Kenny Luck for this powerful final session of Behind the Door.
Every heard the phrase "Get a whiff of that guy?" Curious way to describe picking up a "vibe" someone is throwing off. Why use our sense of smell as a metaphor to evaluate someone? It's because smells are not neutral - you judge them. Good or bad. You want more or less. You avoid or embrace them. Think fresh cut grass. Gas at the service station. Mama's sauce or apple pie. The Bible says that a Kingdom man is like an aroma that let's people know something is present that they can't see. God's man is "spreading everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of God." When people encounter you they both see and sense King Kingdom because you are living Behind The Door. Or not. In this powerful session men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck explores our influence on others and the commission to smell it up for Jesus.
Starting a relationship does not pose the same challenge as staying rooted and connected in a relationship. In fact, getting into a relationship with anyone is the easy part but staying meaningfully engaged, interested, and growing in that relationship is where the biggest challenges reside. It all boils down to priorities - what we care most about will absorb our greatest focus and energies. The same thing is true about our relationship with God, his purposes, and his Kingdom - if it is a priority to stay connected to them then we will adopt a new lifestyle and attitude that insures we stay meaningfully and powerfully connected. Easier said than done? Yes. Impossible? No. The difference maker? Shifting our focus from ourselves to something greater than self. Are you ready for that journey?
Have you ever wanted to know everything all at once? It is human nature to want to know what's coming before it comes because in life - when it comes to choices and consequences - the fewer the surprises the better! You want to be sure you are making right decisions that maximize the good stuff and avoid the bad. All followers of Jesus - from the first ones to now - are attracted to Jesus but we can't see the whole picture of our lives on the journey with him. We only see a step or two ahead but never the whole. The Kingdom of God is like a "seed" that is in a process of growing and expanding in our lives but only if we choose relationship with Jesus and listen do get to go behind the door and find the next things out. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck as he unpacks the power of the parable - the "keys" to discovering the secrets of the Kingdom.
A key and a door. Keys unlock doors. If you are given the right key you get to enter into and experience whatever is behind the door. Imagine checking into a great hotel and not being given the keys that open the door to your personal room! You can't. So when Jesus says to his men "I have given you the keys to the Kingdom" it is an invitation to engage and experience a realm full of power and purpose previously unavailable to us. It is not just any space - it is a supernatural and life changing space - The Kingdom. More importantly, Jesus expects the "key receivers" to start opening doors and experiencing all that is BEHIND THE DOOR. Right now, in the midst of the digital war for our time and attention, a campaign of distraction is limiting millions of God's men from seeing and experiencing the insights, adventures, and experiences that lay behind the Kingdom doors God presents to us every day. We blow by them or miss them altogether at our own loss and our own peril. In the process we are missing out on the great super adventure and super humanity to which we belong called the Kingdom Of God. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for the exciting new 5 part series that will take you BEHIND THE DOOR and into God's Kingdom which is surrounding your life right now.
When we hear the Parable of the Talents we typically think about money, skill, ability… What if I told you that before your wife was your wife, she was God's daughter. And God has given her to you to steward well. What happens when He comes back and wants to take a look at his investment? Will He see that your wife has become more like Christ because of you, or in spite of you? This week we're learning about stewarding our marriage well.
Dad, you’re a prophet. To be a prophet is to be God's mouthpiece. In your home, you are the primary mouthpiece of God. Like the prophets of old, your job is to speak on behalf of God. You bring God [His Word] to the people under your care. This week, we put on the mantle of prophet and we speak on behalf of God!
"So much of what is wrong in the world today is due to men who are confused. Two generations ago, men were confident in their masculinity and manhood.One generation ago, men began to compromise their masculinity and manhood. Today, men are confused about their masculinity and manhood. They have no path. We live in a time when no common definition or vision for manhood exists. Because of such, we see 5 types of men emerging… Four types of men take life, one type gives life. We want to be life-giving men.
What does it mean to be GOOD trouble?Before we can become GOOD trouble in any environment. We must ask ourselves and honestly answer;“What’s missing?”“What’s broken that I can fix?”“What’s evil that I can destroy?”“What’s good that I can persevere?”The person that possesses the greatest threat in your environment, in the spaces you occupy is YOU. Inside of every man is a warrior, a champion. But we must not only let him out, but also train him. What separates a man from being trouble and being GOOD trouble, is how he is equipped.In session 2 of “Be Good Trouble” Pastor Chris Harper discusses what it means to be GOOD trouble. And how these four questions can lead us to a pathway to develop an ethos of courage, to be God’s man.
We are living in a time when the leading feminist thought says the world needs a man like a fish need a bicycle…” At best our culture tells you you’re useless... more than not, it says you're a problem. My fear is that we believe the lie.
You and I, our peers, and our kids, have been marinated in a fully saturated consumer culture. How has that consumer culture impacted you? There’s a radical paradigm shift that God offers us that will dramatically change our relationships and lives. It’s based in God’s agape love and lifts others by investing in rather than consuming from others. Let’s ask ourselves if we can define and deliver love?“ Tip, love’s opposite is selfishness and love pays a price to do what’s best for another person. Jesus is the model and the power source for being the relationship investor God made us to be. His love needs to be received to be delivered and it includes counter-cultural concepts like choosing exclusivity and sacrificial serving. God’s paradigm creates marriage hope for the single and scared, and for the married and scarred. The same paradigm will revolutionize our fathering. To thrive as men we’re going to need Jesus’ way to beat life’s blitzes, like the secrecy and lying that detonate bombs when we get sex outside of God’s celebrated design. In the end, our best life as a man comes signing over the title deed so that we are owned and controlled by the best owner, our loving Heavenly Father.
Aren’t you glad social distancing and masking up has ended? But do you still feel a bit lonely, like you’re missing the camaraderie and brotherhood of deep friendship? That’s common among most men. It’s true for leaders, who often feel deep loneliness and isolation, even if they mistakenly think they have hundreds of friends. What if you positively knew that something you really like was really really good for you? Would you get excited and intentional about choosing it? Deep friendship was the way of Jesus. He was intentional, consistent and authentic. He had three closest friends and changed the world through twelve of his friends. What can we learn from the way Jesus invested in his friendships? Friendship Jesus-style contrasts starkly with the watered-down friendship practiced by society. Let’s look at how we can form and enjoy deep friendship, Level 5 Friendship. Can you find the right guys? Can you get over the hurdles of trust, time and fear of looking bad? There’s clear hope and help as you start huddling consistently. Let’s look at the power of processing our lives in a huddle of friends and in huddling with Father God as we meet Him in His word.
We’ve all over-promised and under-delivered. We’ve all felt inspired and convicted. We wanted to change. We were ready to aim high. But then, we’ve all been smacked in the face by reality and fallen back to wistfully thinking, “Ya, God. But, how?” You may be better at blaming than forgiving. Your pride may prevent you from apologizing or asking for help. You may be playing a constant comparison game, dogged by insecurity wondering “what are they thinking about me?” Does your fear of looking like a failure cause you to fail to be honest? You wonder, “Will I ever be able to kill my fear, pretending and lying?” God doesn’t frown at you. He says, “Yes, I can set you free to be the real you I intended.” Are you ready to be God-confident, instead of flailing to be self-confident? Let’s look at how Jesus lived as a son. He gives us the way and the how of being a real and good man - authentic and beneficial to others. He received as a son and transformed as a man. He’ll give us the way to live a life of being transformed and transforming relationships and situations for good.
Most of us have some father deficit or wound. None of us were perfectly fathered. Have you had doubts and false quests arise in your life? Do you get wound up trying to perform, to do well and control your life? Is there a better way? Envision having secure confidence knowing who you are and the very essence of what kind of man you want to be. Our Father God gave us both of these in His Son Jesus. Once you clear up your view of God, you can clarify your view of yourself and enjoy the healing freedom of being re-Fathered by God. Let’s look at the essence of a man and his traits in Jesus, the ultimate man. Good news! Jesus shows us the way to do what we cannot do. Let’s discover God’s intended minute-to-minute way to live - sonship. Jesus lived it and made it available to us - continually depending, connecting and receiving from the Father as well-loved sons.
You can’t achieve your manhood. Sorry, but that’s great news. Especially if you experience confusion and frustration like most guys. We’re told we have to earn our manhood. Society has dozens of misguided suggestions, from sexual conquest to a big bank account to six-pack abs. Even in churches, men seek self-assurance through spiritual performance. But all these efforts fail because we’re trying to win the approval of our peers, wives, fathers, kids or even God Himself. It frustrates and wears us out – leaving us isolated, burnt out, and confused. Would you like to feel secure as a man without competing or pretending? Jesus has a better way. It’s receiving, not achieving. Abba Father invites us to receive our way to live just as we receive His solution in Jesus Christ. Let’s explore the journey of manhood in the way of Jesus - receiving your identity as God’s son and following Jesus’ perfectly dependent way of being a man. Let’s experience how receiving transforms everything in your life – from finding your purpose to rediscovering deep friendship – and defines what it means to be a real, good man.
Following Jesus means taking risks in your relationship with God as well as in your relationships with people. When speaking to his men he also told them they would be taking risks in their relationship to His church. Specifically, that they would be connected to an evil defeating machine that advanced his agenda on earth! As both head and builder of His church, we are called to follow his example of building up and serving the Body of Christ. This dimension of our journey with Jesus will also involve a tension, a stretching of our faith, and a life giving connection to a community of believers. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck to learn exactly how Jesus expects God's man to think about, act toward, and engage His church.
Relationships are risky and unpredictable because the possibility exists that something bad or unpleasant will happen as opposed to what is hoped for happening. That is true in any relationship - even your relationship with God. But when you take risks in your relationship with God he rewards them and, over time, you begin to find courage to start risking in the second most important dimension of life - your personal relationships. But what are the things Jesus will ask you to trust him with and act on in your relationships? Join men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck to learn how Jesus is calling you to the Next Adventure with him in your current relationships.
In the bible Jesus said to the men at the shoreline, “Let’s go to the other side.”. He doesn’t tell them what is going to happen, but He challenges them to get in the boat. He invited every man on the shoreline to go on THE NEXT ADVENTURE. And for those men who risked a yes for the next adventure with Jesus, they witnessed and experienced things they never did before, and it changed them forever. There is a next adventure for you in your relationship with God. There’s a next adventure, next level for you in your relationship with people. But to experience that you have to leave the shoreline and risk a yes for a next adventure with Jesus.
Life is short and every moment is crucial. When faced with adversity, will you seize the opportunity to make the most of your life? It’s in the darkest hours that our desperate need for a Savior becomes crystal clear. While not everyone experiences a deathbed conversion or a miraculous awakening in their lowest moments, by the grace of God, we are given another opportunity to witness the profound essence of humility in leadership through an unlikely and unworthy antagonist. Join me as we unravel the remarkably brief encounter of “repentance and redemption” and discover the transformative power of God’s grace in the most unexpected moment.
Everyone knows the names of hero’s and what they’ve done—it’s virtually impossible to conceal their name and fame. Rarely would anyone disagree that credit is due to the man who earned it, yet how do you reconcile the countless hero’s that exist in the shadows and go about doing good works without recognition of name or deed? Can a man find contentment without the reciprocation of deserved recognition? Scripture reveals on multiple occasions how our Lord Jesus Christ withdrew from the spotlight to commune in solitude with His Father. Let’s learn the profound life lessons that a purposeful prayer life shapes us into servant leaders who uplift and honor others instead of pursuing personal glory. Let’s continue our journey of discovery as we unravel the secrets of godly leadership through the life of an unknown servant.
Now that we’ve seen leadership through the lens of two different men with power and authority, let’s consider what godly leadership looks like when activated by trust and obedience. Interestingly, there are no average guys in the kingdom of God, and leadership is not an optional characteristic for those who overcompensate sacrifice for obedience. If it weren’t for difficult times—would you pray? If it wasn’t for uncomfortable circumstances—would you ever listen to or pray for others? Brace yourself for a breakthrough that has eluded you for far too long. Knowing your enemies is easy, loving them is much more difficult, yet serving them just might be where humility is birthed and the fruit we produce as men matures.
Join me as we continue our journey by taking a deeper dive into the essence of true leadership. As men, we often seek the easiest path for growth and success, but what if we redirected our focus to the blessing of godly leadership, drawn even from our adversaries? Can we learn valuable life lessons from those we disdain? Do our enemies exist as irritants solely for defeat? Discover the extraordinary revelation that awaits us in unrealized territories, where God unveils His presence through our lives as men. Let’s uncover the unexpected as we embrace servant leadership on the path less traveled.
Everything in life stands or falls on leadership, which begs the question, “What is leadership and what exactly does it look like?” As men, we are continually becoming something greater, lesser, or comfortable in our response to God’s directives in life. Let’s review the lives of five uniquely different men throughout Scripture, and consider what leadership, character, and integrity looks like as applied to our own lives.
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“This week we finish the book of James with a final encouragement and challenge. Will we be men who hope in our wealth? Who place our trust and faith in the things we’ve amassed, storing them up until they begin to rot and even condemn us? Or will we be men who trust fully in Christ? Allowing Him to direct our very lives?”
As Gods men we often find ourselves living in “tension”. We have two competing sets of desires that vie for control of our hearts: the desires of our flesh….and the desire to please the Father. Which one will win? The one we feed! In James chapter 4 we’ll unpack what a life lived in the Spirit looks like, as we continue to develop a Faith That Works.
“The speed at which words are shared in todays culture is dizzying. We tweet, text, snap and fire off emotional responses without giving them a second thought. Today our words go further, and last longer, than ever before. What encouragement does James have for how God’s Man should use his words? What impact can they have? How do we become men who use our words to build up, rather than tear down? Join us for week 3 of our walk through the book of James.”
Our culture makes snap decisions based on appearance. Are you like me? Can you do something for me? The Bible calls this sin “partiality” and James has a lot for us to unpack about it in chapter 2. We’ll also dive into our core passage for the series this week, as we seek to understand how our faith and our works dance together. While scripture is clear that our works don’t ever earn our faith, it is equally clear that our works REVEAL our faith. What kind of faith will we display as God’s men? Join us for week 2 of James for Everyman: Building a Faith that Works!
“With a front row seat to his life, James had a unique perspective of Jesus. For most of his own life he didn’t believe Christ was who He claimed to be….until he encountered the resurrected King! He then penned this encouraging letter to the believers scattered throughout the empire, and there is perhaps no book that more properly encourages and informs the Christian life. How do we live amongst those who don’t share our beliefs? How do we put real faith on display? Not faith OR works, but rather a faith THAT works. In “James for Everyman” we will receive practical and tactical instruction on walking with Jesus, and leading others to do the same.”
A never before heard phrase that burst into our everyday lives as a result of the global pandemic was the term "social distancing." To defeat an invisible foe we had to create space between each other and we learned through structured enforcement by Federal, State, and local governments to keep our "distance." Do you remember that? This inculturated behavior combined with the separating nature of digital smartphone habits dealt a huge blow to something we simply cannot live healthy lives without - human contact. For starters, the Bible says that human beings need other human beings: "It is not good for man to be alone." Space between us limits communication between us. And as we ponder Jesus' commission for us be "in the mix" as salt and light for him, it can't work unless we intentionally seek spaces, opportunities, and creative ways to move those next to us closer to God. The pandemic is over. But does the space between you and those God is calling you to make reach in some way for him remain? It is time to close the gap, step into the life of another, and share some good news. A harvest of souls awaits!
Behind the faces we see every day a battle rages within. All the questions life raises relentlessly nip and bite at our resolve, self confidence, and self perception. Do I have what it takes? Did I do the right thing? Does anybody care how hard I am working? Am I cut out for this? When will life not be a struggle? Not another obstacle...seriously? Why is this taking so long to close? Without answers or perspective your hope can be set adrift. More time passes, without resolution, and a man can enter a danger zone emotionally. The fact of the matter is that when a man expects one thing and life delivers another thing he loses hope. And when a man loses his hope he loses his will and determination. Think about it. One day you are on top of the world and in one 24 hour span of time you can be in the pit of despair. What happened you say? Earth happened! Gravity kicked in. The apple of hope fell to the ground. Then another thud and another. Ever been there? Can't catch a break? It's discouraging and the sky certainly feels like it's falling but is it? Oh, how a little perspective and encouragement can deliver needed hope in the emotional battles and storms we find ourselves in. Know anybody needing encouragement around you? Not sure? Jesus said, "In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” Earth is a continuous battle requiring infusions of encouragement to face down its challenges and press forward. Will you be the one God uses to do deliver it to people in your city and community? Demand is high but the supply of encouragement is low. Then there is you.
Many hands make light work. Sounds good right? But most people don't want to appear weak, are too proud to ask, or have been under the weight of life so long they have become numb to real help. The fact of the matter is that every person you know is burdened by something. At a minimum, they are living on planet earth and there's the literal emotional and physical gravities of that. A broken planet, imperfect and selfish people, and limited resources add up BURDENS we all carry in some form or another. But don't make the mistake a lot of us make when we think that material abundance unburdens a person and you disqualify him or her from being "help-able." Rich. Poor. Black. White. Hispanic. Asian. Democrats. Republicans. Old. Young. White Collar. Blue collar. You name them - they have burdens God himself wants to use YOU to reduce. He models it, he believes it, he wants to take action in your city through the Holy Spirit in you for His glory. Do you?
Ever felt alone in your circumstances? Life has a way of making us feel like we are the only ones in the world going through stuff at times. Things happen to us that don't happen to others. Others hurt us while others have great life-giving relationships. We seem to suffer losses disproportionately than all of our Instagram friends. Then an insidious thing happens in our isolation and confusion - we start comparing how we are feeling on the inside with how we perceive others are doing on the outside. It's very human to start to get cynical, get depressed, get mad, or even fatalistic the longer we stew. Earth! So what about earth? Jesus said it is going to bowling-ball your life on a regular basis. What then? What do people around you need? Well if you watch Jesus and his men, they gave people traveling the road of pain exactly what the doctor ordered. What's that you say? A living, breathing, dose of compassion. The message received by those in pain? You have not been abandoned. This is Jesus. This characterized his disciples in the city of Jerusalem? Is this us in our city?
Every man has his Egypts. These are the symbolic seasons of life and circumstances where you felt involuntarily controlled by some thing, some person, or some situation that made you feel trapped and powerless. We have all been there in one way or another. Some Egypts even appeared fun at first until they weren't and they became places of self destruction. In a broken world no one makes it through this life unscathed by losses and setbacks. "Egypts" disable your spirit and mess with your self perception. The dominant feeling? Isolation. Into this condition comes God and his good intentions for us in the midst of our emotional and spiritual predicaments. His intention? He wants all people to experience authentic (versus synthetic) freedom from the captivities created by the Liar, his lies, and us believing them. God simply says: "Enough!" Will we? The people of your city sure hope someone does.
How do you answer the question: where are you from? Usually, we will give a city or town and a state. "Trabuco Canyon, California," is how I would answer that question and then I would feel compelled to mention the nearest larger city and say: "On the east side of Mission Viejo." You do that to or, in some cases, if you live in a large metropolitan city you just say "New York." What is your connection to your city? These are just places to most people but to God, your particular place matters. Your particular city matters big or small. Why? Because it's your city! The Bible declares that God has placed where we are, in the city that we find ourselves, next to the people we encounter in that city for a supernatural purpose! In "THE CITY" pastor and men's expert Kenny Luck challenges you to think about and act on God's Word about your city, your role in it, and how it needs a movement of Spirit empowered men taking risks to change it.
On a planet of 7 billion people it is easy to feel...well... forgotten. So often circumstances, things done to us, choices we have made, sickness, or the simple realities of pressing responsibilities isolate us emotionally. This experience is universal - feelings turn into facts and we become vulnerable to lies about everything ...including God. He knew we would feel overwhelmed at times, lonely at others, and, in the process, become afraid that he had abandoned them. He also didn't leave it there. Instead, he preempted their inevitable encounters with isolation and self pity with solid assurance that their feelings were not the facts. What we witness in their lives going forward is that Instead of circumstances diluting his influence and authority, their eyes remained fixed on Jesus in the blessings and challenges. Will the same be true of you?
Is there such a thing as healthy fear? Think about it. Without a healthy fear of fire, you can get third burns. Without a healthy fear of lions, you can become lunch. Without a healthy fear of electrical wires, you can be lit up like a Christmas Tree. Is there such a thing as a healthy fear of God? Young Lucy in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia is curious about the Lion named Aslan and queries Mr. Beaver who is educating her on this great leader of Narnia. “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” Translation: have a healthy fear of a Lion who is King but know that he is good. The Bible says the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." By contrast, Jesus says, the unwise fear of men can dilute God's desire of being the dominant force in our lives. So, are you living wisely?
It is human nature to create a narrative or rationale to get what you want or live the way you want. My kids were legend at creating narratives, invoking the quetionable, and using like words like "everybody" or "all" to convince themselves and me that they needed the latest and greatest thing to fulfill their purpose for living. They took liberties with the truth because their desire trumped the truth. And like most dads would, I saw through it. In fact, when people use words to create energy or panic in you to do something or act a certain way watch out! The ends do not justify the means and selling the truth out is never good for anybody. In the New Testament Jesus told his men that others would do this very thing to dilute his influence and their commitment to him. How specifically? By speaking lies about them or lies to them to ignite fear in them that would take over control of their choices in the moment. But the Son of God fortified his men with some powerful words of his own which would cause them to not panic, not be disloyal, and advance God's will under pressure. In the end, Jesus said, the truth will prevail and they would be victorious.
Expectations are the unseen killer of relationships. Differing expectations litters a relationship with misinterpretations and massive frustration. When someone says "This shouldn't be so hard" when referring to a relationship they have, what they are really saying is "I had different expectations for it." Clear and communicated expectations, on the other hand, are a liberating and empowering force for any relationship. Why? They eliminate guessing and foster connecting in meaningful ways that move the relationship forward. In your relationship with God, he has been crystal clear regarding His expectations for it. He pulls no punches and declares: "I want to be the dominant force in your life." The Bible says God can make such a bold ask because when all is said and done, you will be glad you did. Future reality, Jesus says, should shape where you place your present energy.
DRIVING FORCES in our lives fuel the thinking and living of every man. These forces become the axis for our decision-making. A good example? Men will work hard to provide for their families - being a husband and father has power or force necessary to make a man work hard. By contrast, a DOMINANT FORCE in a man's life subsumes all driving forces into it, informs them, and shapes them. A powerful example? Anger. Say no more right? All men know how anger can pollute every driving force in our lives if we let it and, in the process, it gains primary control, authority, and influence over all dimensions of our existence. The Bible says that God wants to be the DOMINANT FORCE of our lives - the commanding, the prevailing, and the controlling factor over all others. God wants a man who is unstoppable, fearless, and totally loyal because of His personal presence. Do you want that?
We call it multi-tasking. It means that you are able to do more than one thing at a time. Culture encourages it and it can work in some instances. We talk and drive at the same time. We BBQ and sip a beer at the same time. We hold our kids and eat at the same time and so on. But at some point our capacity to take on more things exceeds our physical ability to do them all at once. The same is true with our beliefs and priorities. Something has got to give and we have to decide. To have great relationships with anyone, we must prioritize them and that involves saying "no" to other activities and work in order to say "yes" to the people, the spaces, and places that are our first priority. Our energies align with our truest priorities and it will force you to decide what matters most over what matters less. In order to hear God clearly, regularly, and personally so that we can experience a quality relationship with him, a man must define his priorities and be consistent in his choices for him. He has to decide what are the vital few things he must put first over the important many things competing for his time and attention. God puts it this way: "I am the Lord and there is no other." He is first. What he wants is first. In our flow of life he wants to be first but he wants us to make that choice.
We work hard - really hard. To rest we divert from our work lives. We do family, collect friends, go to church, vacation, go out to eat, stream shows, do podcasts, socialize around craft whiskey, stay up on sports, become fantasy general managers, do our hobbies, and accumulate gear to do those hobbies - lots of it! It's a lot of output. It's a lot of energy. All that effort to get relief and rest but the fact of the matter is that we are still restless. Our plates are full, full, full but we go to sleep feeling empty and anxious about the emptiness. In fact, the rest eludes us - we have a lot going on but feel lost inside a world we chose to build. Into this existence and restlessness God speaks this: "I will give you rest." Why does he want to give us rest? God says resting is essential to connecting with, knowing, hearing God.
The modern world is a noisy one. The most immediate consequence of a lot of noise is that you can't communicate with anyone in its presence. The immediate solution is equally simple if you want to connect with, hear what someone is saying, and advance the relationship. You remove the noise by removing yourself from it. Every one of us has done this. Think of being in a noisy environment and someone important is calling you. What do you do? You remove yourself from the noise because you care about who is on the other end of the call and you want to hear them clearly! You create space to hear - or you miss a vital source and moment of input that affects your life. If God truly is the most vital source of input in your life, you will create a quiet space in the midst of the noise - or not. The Bible says the consequences or blessings that come from not doing or doing that are guaranteed. Strong blessing follows true hearing. But true hearing requires strong action to create real quiet like Jesus did.
We live in a culture addicted to speed. We can't wait - or if we have to - an inner irritation cycle starts boiling inside. As a practice, we drive over the speed limit and don't give it a second thought. We see people texting while they are driving. We hunt the shortest check-out line at the grocery store. We are trained multi-taskers. We eat and email and keep eating with people. We glance and keep glancing at our phones. We don't want to miss something. Our butt vibrates and we reach for our phones and discover another meaningless notification. We sleep with our phones next to our beds to sustain our hyper-living. What's happening to our soul in the process? What's happening to your relationships with God and people in the process? At the root of it all? Hurry. If you are wondering if hurry is "of the devil," wonder no more - hurry is the devil. If he can't make a man bad he will speed him up and make him "busy." We wear that word like it's some badge of honor because busy means productive and successful. When did we start to believe that? Is all our hurry, muti-tasking, and busyness making us men of substance? Maybe we need to stick it the man (the devil) and slow down to reconnect with God, hear from God well, and live out of what we hear from him. God says you have to SLOW in order to hear and know him. If that appeals to you then put the gloves on - cuz you are in for a fight.
When seeking to win a war, the first efforts of an attacking force wherever possible is to kill the communications capacity of your enemy. Separating a man or group of men from its strategic commanders and voices limits, isolates, and ultimately destroys their effectiveness. In your spiritual journey, your ability to hear from God is essential to living in God and for God effectively in your context as a man, dad, husband, friend, coworker, and human being! The problem is very few, if any, of us feel safe enough or secure enough to admit just how separated from God we feel. That would require making yourself vulnerable and brave. But the fact of the matter is that ALL of us are in the same battle to hear clearly from God so that we can live out an effective and fruitful life for God. We are living in a jungle of noise, distraction and disintegration of soul which makes the devil’s job easier in our lives. Time for a reset so we can retake life with and life for God.
There are a couple of ways you can evaluate the insides of a man. One way is how he handles adversity and defeat. The other way is how he handles success, blessing and abundance. The Bible says there is a right and a wrong way to process success - one is through the lens of self and the other is through the lens of God's grace and presence. In a world that stresses making your failures opaque and your successes ultra visible, God's man has a challenge on his hands. The key to handling earth's successes well? Humility. And if you think God won't move in your life to keep you humble in light of your influence, think again. He wants you to take territory. He wants you leave a footprint. He wants to bless you abundantly. But most importantly he wants your relationship with him to remain strong and steady in the midst. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this challenging session in Part 4 of HUMBLE.
The Bible says that humility is a like a spiritual super power - it connects you solidly and intimately with the power, presence, and grace of God. In fact, you can't have a healthy and growing relationship with God or fulfill his vision for your life without it as your inner disposition. In Part 3 of HUMBLE men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck dives deep into the next powerful reason every man should seek, cultivate and practice humility: to prevent your own self destruction. Many a man has let his pride come before his fall but God's man knows better. Do you?
God is clear - crystal clear. Humility is required to have a thriving relationship with him. It is also central to his #1 goal and purpose for your life - to be like Jesus. You can't be like Jesus, lead like Jesus, influence like Jesus or love like Jesus without a humble center of your spirit. He was royalty but he didn't need to wear a crown. He didn't need to cling to his clear advantages over men. He didn't feel the need to point to his deity. But he did leave heaven for earth. He did offer to carry the loads of others. He did unburden the distressed. He did choose faithfulness to God over flattery from men. Humble was not something Jesus did, humble is who he was. This is Jesus. Jesus is in you. Is this you?
The reality of God - capital "G" - creates instant humility in a man. Or, at least it should. The Bible says "God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble." This blessing of this declaration by God to us is that now we don't have to make assumptions in our relationship with him. He is telling us exactly how the relationship works the best and what the key ingredient is - a correct estimation of ourselves in light of who he is! HUMBLE. More importantly, Jesus defines himself as "humble." This is Jesus. Jesus is in you. Is this you? JOIN men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck as he unpacks why HUMBLE is your best pursuit as a man in relationship with God and people.
You put your life on the line for your country and fellow soldier and fight the enemy with reckless abandon. Then you come home, and at some point, start to process what you went through. Some ways we deal with or try to forget our past create more pain in…
Without purpose, we will perish. As solider’s we understand what it means to please our commanding officer (CO), to execute the mission. As men of God, our commanding officer is Jesus, and we strive to be more like our CO. We do that by training in Godliness, so we model Jesus, we get familiar with the spiritual weapons, and we fight alongside our brothers. God has a purpose and plan for your life, and it is time to step into that purpose.
The Guide: Survival, Warfighting, Peacemaking. Click the link – www.gregmunck.net to preorder your copy today.
Surrender is not a word that is in my vocabulary, and “never ever quit, never” is something I say all the time. Surrender is an absence of resistance. There is only one thing worthy of surrendering to, and that is the God that created the heavens and the earth, the God who created you. He is the great I AM, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. God loved you so much He sent His son Jesus to pay a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt that we could not pay. Stop resisting and start trusting and cooperating with God to truly start winning with God.
The Guide: Survival, Warfighting, Peacemaking. Click the link – www.gregmunck.net to preorder your copy today.
Your truest growth happens under pressure, when you train, when you are stretched. Pressure reveals your true character and the pressure of bootcamp and training brought out qualities in me like honor, leadership, courage, and commitment. You understand the importance of working as a unit, platoon, reaction force, or fire team. You are not an army of one, and in life and as men of God we need the same kind of team, the same brotherhood. We are more effective together than alone. A soldier’s growth truly happens when we are rooted, accountable and on mission!
The Guide: Survival, Warfighting, and Peacemaking. Click the link - gregmunck.net to preorder your copy today.
Your truest identity is not what you do, what you have accomplished, what social-economic group you were born into, or what pain you have experienced. Your truest identity is that you are the son of the most high God, the creator of the universe. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You are a man of God. That is your true identity, embrace it and live it like a good soldier.
Greg Munck is the Lead Executive Pastor of Crossline Church in Laguna Hills, California. He is a USMC veteran and was combat promoted to Corporal for his actions in the Persian Gulf War. He has been married to Kymbry for 30 years, and has five children Noah, Taylor, Micah, Elijah and Ethan. He is a speaker and author of The Guide: Survival, War-fighting and Peacemaking. For more information go to www.gregmunck.net
Relationships on earth define our life on earth. As a follower of Jesus, this relationship completely shapes every dimension of life by mirroring what he experienced. Jesus lived a life on earth, he died a death on earth , and came alive again to God's purposes here on earth. Are you ready to come alive to God's purposes?
Every man has his ways. In fact, our patterns of thinking and living, believing and behaving can be so consistently manifested that we can use it as an excuse for not changing. "I am the way I am," is the defense. The problem is that the people or circumstances connected to our lives might not be as forgiving as the fear and the pride inside of us make their case in our brains. Just think about how many problems have been created, how many partnerships have blown up, and how many relationships have been destroyed because of a fear that created an unwillingness to risk change. God says, that mindset and approach does not work for him. In fact, Jesus declares that in order for you to experience the most out of your relationship with him - someone has to die. Specifically, the man you feel you need to be needs to go - the one which prevents the man God is calling you to be from becoming a reality.
A defining moment is a point in your life when you're urged to make a pivotal decision, or when you experience something that fundamentally changes you. Not only do these moments define us, but they have a transformative effect on our perceptions and behaviors. This is God’s intention when you decide to cross the line into a relationship with Christ. In fact, a supernatural process begins and it is God’s intention that your decision and this relationship FULLY DEFINE you personally for the rest of your life. Join men’s expert and pastor Kenny Luck as we explore the 5 powerful ways a relationship with Christ is intended to fully define your life right now.
All of us would love for life - at least on a personal level - to be linear when it comes to our hopes and dreams. We like it when things happen according to our timelines, expectations, and outcomes. Good luck with that! Jesus is very honest that the exact opposite will frequently happen and you are going to have some assurance to make it through those times on the road of life. One of the biggest curveballs to hit the disciples was when their expectation of Jesus collided with the crucifixion and death of Jesus. You could say it was a speed bump so big it broke the axel and they had to pull over in the middle of nowhere not sure what was next on the road to God. But into their despair came some hope at just the right time and were they ever surprised! Whether we like to admit it or not - we all need to see tangible hope in real time in order to keep our hope in God alive. Key word? Alive.
Are we there yet? It doesn't really matter whether you are a kid stuck in the middle seat between two siblings or an adult stuck in the middle seat on a commercial airline flight, you simply want to get there! "There" is where you planned to be. "There" is where you want to be. "There" holds some kind of promise that is better than where you were. "There" can't get here fast enough. On the road to God, however, sometimes God knows that in order to handle the blessings waiting for us when we arrive, he has to withhold them for a bit. Before God's man can stand in the promised land - hands full of satisfactions - he gives us the gift of desperation by taking what feels is the "long way." When that happens your expectations of an early arrival collide with the reality of a delay, a difficulty, or a diversion that was not in the script. The road to God has now gone "OFF ROAD" or - more specifically - off the plan. When that happens our faith gets called out, worked out, and finished out in a way that prepares us for our arrival in a space of blessing like nothing else could.
It's called taking the "path of least resistance." You make an intentional decision to go for that course of action which avoids confrontation, discomfort of any kind, or personal tension. You say to yourself, "This is the easiest way to keep moving forward" even when that "way" is not the best or beneficial way. Don't rock the boat. Let sleeping dogs lie. Easier is better right? That may be true in other dimensions of life but not in your journey with and to God. In fact, Jesus has willful suffering and voluntary sacrifice in his forecast for our journey to God. This is the road of commitment to Christ that very few men - and perhaps nobody in the moment - will be traveling with you. They will choose the path of least resistance and, in choosing it, will deny Christ, disguise the truth, and deceive themselves. God's man has learned, by contrast, that the narrow road he is asked to travel by God leads to spiritual integrity, sure blessing, and less regret in the end. God says easier isn't always better but godliness - while costly at times - will always result in blessing. So what will it be? The path of least resistance or the path of maximum obedience? Only one path, Jesus says, leads to life.
Every day most men are hitting the road - literally and figuratively. Work. Activities. Trips of all kinds. We get on a road and go! Then there is the road of life - this road is the metaphysical one that speaks to your personal past, present and future experiences that make up your life. That road is filled with the people, circumstances, encounters, traumas, victories, defeats, and all the emotions and sensations connected to each season of life. Then there is the end of the road - the moment we stop traveling, arrive, and transition. The Bible says all men are road men or pilgrims - on a journey and taking all kinds of roads - passing through this life to get the next one. God says He is with us on our journey. God says the road is narrow and broad. God says the road will have obstacles. God says the road will create unplanned encounters and experiences. God also plans to take you off-roading for the adventure of your life! Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this 5 week series on the joys and challenges of being on your personal road to God.
Has someone ever asked you to do something and you didn't feel like doing it? Your first thought is "Now? Why now?" You have things to do. You have plans right now. You have needs that will go unmet if you say yes. All valid but because of who is asking you do what is requested, you don't voice any of those reasons saying "no" and you fulfill the request of the "asker." How about when God asks? How do you respond? Is it okay to struggle with the request? What puts God's man over the top? What should be your guiding motivation to do what he wants to do versus what you want to do at any given moment? In this last session of PUSH and PULL men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck teams with Dusty Davis to finish this powerful series by addressing the personal spiritual dynamics of motivation and personal responses to God when he speaks into our lives a direction or request. Will it be "I have to do this?" Or, will it be "I want to do this!"? Your response matters but your motivation matters more to God.
Everyday we are forced to make decisions. Every YES is also a NO. Everything we step into, is a decision to step away from something else. How does God’s Man discern God’s will? When are we called to say YES and when are we called to say NO? How do we navigate a society that seems to elevate, encourage and even worship the very things that God’s man is called to say NO to? Join us as we jump into the Week 4 and unpack The Tension of Yes & No!
Oftentimes, as God’s men, we face crossroads in our lives where decisions must be made. The decisions are not always simply between what is right and what is wrong, but rather in discerning what is God’s will for our lives. In our desire to live on mission for Jesus we are often confronted with the choice…do I stay, or should I go? Am I to endure….or am I to move out in faith? When is God’s man called to remain and build up and when is he called forward to take new territory? Oftentimes we are called to both, to living out the beautiful rhythms of STAYING and GOING.
The best leaders on the planet, those that God can use mightily, are not first of all leaders….they’re followers. God’s man recognizes that he can never lead someone to places he’s never been, and so God’s man must learn to follow Jesus in order to lead. As we follow Jesus, however, we will quickly recognize our calling to lead others. To ensure the next generation has what it takes to stand tall for Christ. How do we balance this tension? To lead and to follow? In Part 2 of our series Push & Pull, we will unpack the core truths needed to be men humble enough to follow, and brave enough to lead.
We are launching into a new 4 week series entitled “PUSH AND PULL”, where we are going to unpack some of the tensions of our faith that we experience as Gods Men. Living in an upside down Kingdom where to be great we must become nothing, where the way up is down and where we must balance seemingly opposite rhythms. Along the way we’ll discuss the Rhythms of Being & Doing, Following & Leading, Staying & Going and the balance of Yes and No.
We live in a place and time when we are overrun with adversity. The news feeds of our lives are boiling over with bad news. Houses are burning down, gunmen are carrying out unimaginable evil acts, and even though we don’t have the energy to talk about it anymore…there is a pandemic claiming the lives of our loved ones. And that is just the stuff we woke up to this morning. All these things are stealing our peace. It has us all standing around asking, “What do we DO?” Because we should be DOING something. What is the alternative? NOT DOING! Thinking about it, talking about it, and worrying about it does nothing about “it”. We are called to do something about it. Jesus spoke these powerful words after washing the disciples’ feet, “Not that you know these things, you will be blessed if you DO them.” (Jn. 13:17). Time for some doing.
If you have ever expressed your frustration by saying "I just can't seem to catch a break right now," you are not alone. In fact, every man has felt this. One thing after another hits you. Bad news. Bad Break. Bead deal. Bad communication. Another bad result on top of the of last one. Relentless! In the middle of these extended and pressure-filled seasons, it feels like everyone else's life is solid and orderly while the ground underneath your life is constantly shifting and unpredictable. And YET, the man of God simply cannot let go of his faith, his belief, his stubborn sense that somehow, some way, God is going to redeem this for good and he surrenders once again to God in the middle of the storm. Time to have it out with your Maker. Jeremiah models for God's man exactly how to do that when you have bent as far as you humanly can and feel like your about to break.
Ever said to someone "What choice do I have?" When it's too late to turn back and there is no relief in sight your options narrow - you either give up or go forward. Safe to say you can learn a lot about a man in that situation when his back is against the proverbial wall. The Bible says that God is the one who authors or allows situations like this not just to learn about what's inside of us but also to draw out faith and work in needed spiritual maturity. While the circumstances we find ourselves in may be an unwelcomed shock to us, in God's mind there are no surprises when you find yourself in high seas or the belly of the beast. Jonah knew, literally, about both of these perilous predicaments and came out of it learning things about himself and God that changed the entire trajectory of his life. We will all find ourselves on the high seas or swallowed by a life situation at some point that we didn't really ask for or desire. How will you respond? What is God looking for? Will you work with him? Let's learn from the man who went through it and came out of both the water and belly of the beast serving God's purposes.
Having logged over 2 million miles flying above earth in a plane, I am pretty comfortable flying in an airplane - even when it gets bumpy. My wife, on the other hand, is sensitive and shaken when the ride goes from smooth to turbulent. When the side to side or the ups and downs start happening she asks me the same question every time, "We are going to be okay right?" My answer is always the same too: "Yes. This aircraft was built to fly in this stuff." Then she holds onto my arm like a life preserver until the captain finds the smooth air again. Jesus said life on earth will be filled with pockets of unwelcomed turbulence: "In this world you will have tribulation." However, in the next breath, he assures his followers by saying "but take courage, I have overcome the world." When you find yourself getting tossed around by life's storms, assurance and confidence in the midst is both available and powerful. God says his people are uniquely equipped to make it through all of life's storms. In Part 2, we will learn exactly how God's man takes courage in the midst from and anchors his hope.
The unexpected storms of life catch us off guard and have the potential to sink our confidence in God. What is even harder is the fact that we know GOD! We know he is good. We know he is able to do anything. We know he is wise. We know he is in control. We know he has our best interests in mind. And we know he sees what is happening to us at all times. SO WHY? Why has God allowed this to enter my life with such devastating force? I feel such pain, such loss, such confusion, and such isolation that my spirit is disoriented and my faith is being hurled into confusion? Ever feel that way? You are in good company! In fact, some of the greatest men of God felt the exact same way - they felt like they were getting tossed around like a ship caught in a hurricane in the open ocean. Wave after massive wave comes, striking our lives and tipping us precariously to the edge. How do you even talk to God about what is happening? How do you keep the faith? How do you survive the HIGH SEAS of life and make it back to port? God's Word is full of examples of men who had to navigate and negotiate pounding breakers. Were they frustrated with God? Did they complain? Could they lament the situation in faith? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful series on how the man of faith faces the tidal waves of life.
On any given day, we have dozens of interactions and conversations. In fact, one recent study revealed that the average person has 27 conversations every day, lasting an average of 10 minutes each. Look at that number. Seems high? Not when you think about it. "Good morning" echanges. Work interactions. Coffees. Lunch. Workouts. Waiters. Friends. Family. Kids practices and coaches. Teachers. Parents of your kid's friends. Neighbors. Dog parks. Phew! The amazing thing about all these interactions and conversations is that YOU have the power to take them in any direction, about any topic, at any time you choose. In the Kingdom of God every conversation counts but where will we take it? God's man knows that when he is with believers the Holy Spirit wants him to raise their spirits through encouragement. He also knows that when he is with non-believers the Holy Spirit wants to use him to reach and save their soul. The only question is - will you let him use you to make that happen? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this final, challenging, and explosive conversation focused on changing the lives of people - literally - forever.
The road to lasting success - in most anything - is paved with a host of obstacles, valleys, and long, dark tunnels with no light to pull us through. It's called the middle. You are too far into something to turn back but also so far away from the end you don't know how you are going to make it! Ironically, most people, battling against the forces of self-doubt the world knows nothing about, need only the smallest amount of encouragement to make it to the end. But who will take time to do it? What kind of person is free enough from the constant self-absorption gripping humanity as we walk past each other every day? Who has a commission to raise the spirits of others as an identity? The Holy Spirit says, "That's you!"
You are helping a buddy move. You test the weight of a box he has packed. You squat. You grab. You say to yourself, "I think I got this" and then you start to lift. You realize very quickly you don't have this! When something is heavy it is difficult to bear yourself. Here's the thing with men in particular - we want to do it alone. Gravity kicks in, makes you feel the real weight of things, and we still attempt to carry "it" alone. We tell ourselves: "We got this!" Until we don't, our pride wins, and something is damaged. Much of life is that way - heavy. We think "we got it" and try to carry the burdens we are experiencing alone until it's too late and we end up being proven wrong. We never "had it" in the first place. But how wonderful it is when a second set of hands arrive! What was once heavy is now manageable - even doable. Lighter is better! You can feel the weight of the situation shift because someone is in it with you. God says that everyone you know is carrying some form of burden and they need a second set of hands that will help them feel the joy and relief of lightness. Heaviness is constant and everywhere. Choosing to make someone's burden lighter is rare and powerful. In the spaces and places you occupy God's Spirit says to God's man: "Make that lighter.”
Life on earth will - at many points - make you feel alone in your circumstances. Maybe it is a physical condition we can't fix that afflicts and isolates us. Maybe it is on an emotional level caused by some form form of loss. Many of us know the pain of relational loss, distance, or despair. And if you follow and love God, you will know spiritual pain and suffering caused by sin creating distance with God. Whatever the cause, the common denominator is the pain isolates us. You feel ALONE in it. You feel CONFUSED by it. You feel CONTROLLED by it. Or you feel FORCED to accept it. And the worst part of it is you CAN’T OVERCOME it by yourself. Add it all together and the result is the pain of isolation and how it attacks the mind and soul. We start thinking things that we have never thought to deal with the pain. Anger. Sadness. Revenge. Altered states. Ever heard those voices? Those suggestions? Given in? God wants pain and the loneliness it creates RELIEVED and he has a plan to do it in your context. You.
You are not in charge in anymore. Everything changes now. There is a new normal, new status, and a new reality. Life as you were experiencing it has morphed. A stronger force has overtaken you and now controls you. People around you are asking: "What has gotten into you?" because they are seeking an explanation for the changes they see manifesting in you. Whatever it is, let's just hope it's a good thing or - better yet - a God thing. Jesus told his followers they would be OVERTAKEN and that this event was going to - literally - shock and rock their personal and present world. Now, as then, a violent wind is rushing and the fire is coming upon God's men actively waiting on, seeking, and experiencing Holy Spirit impartation and ignition. God wants to set you loose in your personal world. Where you you live. Where you work. Where you pray. Where you play. He knows exactly what he wants to do. Do you? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this life changing and personal experience with the Holy Spirit.
WEAPON OF CHOICE Paul did not say to, “put on the full armor of God” (Eph. 6), because you MAY get into a fight with a person or a thing that is familiar to you. He said, “This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.” (Eph. 6:12 MSG). Once you are convinced of the seriousness of that fight, you will start to appreciate your weapon of choice, THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT/WORD OF GOD, and train with it. The enemy would prefer the Bible be diminished to an app on our phones mixed in with all the other apps, that are NOT life giving. The sword of the spirit is powerful, and just like a soldier trains with his sword, we need to train with the bible. It should be accessible and ready for action. What good is it if is stowed away collecting dust? It should be at the ready, “so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Eph. 6:11)
A tactical retreat is moving to a safer location to prevent being overtaken by the enemy. This provides time to re-group and re-engage. The decision is not easy because retreating means giving up ground that is likely harder to get back. It is also difficult to admit you are losing or getting ready to lose. Men, all day long, are in dangerous situations and fail to recognize the danger and its capability. Maybe it’s pride, temptation, fear, anger or pride…or pride, or whatever the enemy’s weapon of choice against you. Regardless, you fail to recognize the danger or see how big the blast radius that explosion creates. We are in a battle that requires situational awareness to observe dangers around us and have a plan to fall back to a safer place where we can re-load, re-group and re-engage.
Smart people are helpful. Really WISE people save you from pain! Do you have one of these people in your life? They don't push advice on you like some but when they offer it you lean in and trust what they say. It is like gold - precious and valuable. Experience and insight are what makes them so trusted but the fact that they share what they know with you comes from a deep concern and love makes their wisdom unique. God - your maker, God your strong creator, and God your loving father is also the Most Wise. When you talk to him in prayer the wisdom he possesses is a game changer.
A ritual on the playground I remember easily is choosing teams to play kickball. Two "captains" would be selected for a game and they choose alternatively from an assembled group of boys hoping they won't be the last one picked! On those occasions when I was a captain I knew who I would pick first every time without fail - it was my buddy Todd. He had what every kickball team needs if they hope to win - a powerful right leg. Let's put it this way: Todd's leg had the "kick" that sent the other teams we played chasing the "ball." Then, as now, power and strength on your side provides confidence but you have to be intentional in choosing it. In the battle of life, a man who does not choose God to help lead him to victory is a fool for one simple reason - His power. Jesus wants you to pick him. He says, "Come to me." A strong God produces strong confidence and strong wins. Or not.
Men are like icebergs - most people only see the tip. We live seen and unseen lives. We are very public about our successes or just about anything that reflects well on us. We are also very private about our struggles or just about anything that reflects poorly on us. Here's the problem - our struggles take a toll when unshared or unprocessed over time. They turn into secrets that we carry around. No one knows about them - fears, challenges, and needs that are secret go unmet because potential people and sources of help remain in the dark. Every day of a secret life that passess walls between us and help, between truth and lies, and between us and people grow taller and harder to breakdown. Into this secret life comes the call of Christ. He says, "Come to me." Jesus wants to unburden us from the anxiety of having a public/private split, living a seen life of images and a private life of unseen struggle. He wants to end our isolation. But He knows we will not come unless we are convinced of one thing to the core of our being - His love. Our connection and conversation with God will never surpass our awareness of the love of God. For God's man this is the difference between spiritual life and spiritual death.
When people we love have a huge need or problem that went unspoken and unresolved causing them pain or harm we say, "Why didn't you come to me?" Usually the responses range from "I didn't want to burden you" to "I was embarrassed" to "I didn't think you would understand." None of these reasons makes sense because the outcome of not expressing or sharing what's going on at the time is always worse than talking about it - this is especially true when real help was available. Fear or pride always limit needed help and relief coming into our lives. Jesus knew this about us and positioned himself forever as someone in our lives who we never need to hide our problems, needs, or concerns from. In fact, he made us a standing invitation to take advantage of his care and capacity saying "Come to me." He was serious about that but are we? And what is the price we pay as a man of God when we let pride and self sufficiency limit healthy and humble dependency upon God in prayer? God says conversation with Him is a necessity for a healthy relationship. How's that conversation going?
New Year // New Man Scriptures talk a lot about being new in Christ. New man. New mind. New spirit. New life. The most challenging part of the "new man" is the journey of intimacy and honesty. We just don’t know how to do it naturally. Today we will explore the reality of being a real man that can talk about real things. Intimacy with others, spouses, and God.
Any dad with small kids knows that his little ones are not going to understand his behavior at times. Key word? Little. They are physically not as tall as the one whose hand they are holding and, as such, can't see what he is seeing at any given time. A dad will see danger twenty yards away his "little one" cannot and gives instructions to "STOP!" A dad will be holding his toddler's hand walking in a large crowd, guiding him based on what he sees in front of him - not the other way around. A dad sees ahead of his child visually and guides accordingly. The Bible says we are like the "little one" and God is the Dad who sees what we cannot see. And just like a child gets frustrated at times by that reality, a dad's control, and his own inability to see what's ahead - a loving dad will never stop seeing what He sees and make the adjustments he needs to protect and guide his child. Right now, God is seeing ahead of what you can see God is guiding you accordingly. The question is: will we trust Him or will we get frustrated? Or worse, will we break away in ignorance and suffer the consequences? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful session on trusting God WHATEVER THE WEATHER.
Ever heard the expression "fair weather fan"? It describes someone who will passionately follow a sports team but only when they are winning. One minute they are all in, high-fiving, jersey wearing, evangelists for their team. Then the season's "weather changes." Winning ways are replaced by the "struggle bus" and everyone connected to the team is on it. Discontentment and dissatisfaction sets in and separation is the result. Faithful "die hard" fans separate from the "fair weather" fans. One loyally stays on the bus. The other gets off and puts his jersey away. Did you know God has "fairweather" fans? These are men who are content and satisfied with God until their circumstances change and don't match their expectations. Things happen that were not a part of their plan. Gratitude is replaced by ingratitude. Contentment is replaced by discontentment. They have forgotten that God's character and attitude toward them does not fluctuate according to their circumstances. Find a man who has learned to be content and grateful "whatever the circumstances" and I will show you a man who truly knows God and expereinces joy "whatever" the weather.
A police officer typically starts their shift with a briefing or roll call. It is designed to take roll, pass along critical information, and provide relevant training. Motivated officers hurry out of briefing and quickly advise dispatch they are "10-8", which is the radio code for "in service". The lazier officers hang around the station, trying to delay the time before going 10-8. You see, once you go 10-8, "in service", you have to serve. That can be very risky and a total inconvenience, especially when I only want to serve myself. Briefing is the place you talk about the doing. Going "in service" is where you DO! James 1:21-23 says briefing is for "hearing God's word". Going 10-8 is for doing God's word. Sure, we must show up for briefing and discuss God's word and application, but too many of us don't get to that critical next step. We don't DO. In that same passage in James says the one is listening and not doing, "has no idea who they are or what they look like" (Message translation). Lets stop talking about doing, and LET'S DO IT!
We live in a world where we are surrounded by people in need. Just about everyone you come in contact with today needs something. Some of those needs are obvious, but others we are AFRAID to ask. We are AFRAID to ask, "how can I help." I am sure I don't have what they need, and if I do, I don't want to give it away. So, I carefully manage my interactions. I protect myself from entering that space with people where I might intentionally or accidentally identity a need. I don't make eye contact and get in and out of the situation with the least time and energy wasted. Even better, I use an app. I click a few buttons, step carefully through the door, grab my coffee and quickly retreat. I could use curb-side services, but then I have to interact with a human. I don't need that kind of pressure. If I am careful, I won't see a need because I AM AFRAID.
FACT: Sacrifice cements friendships. Risk nothing in your relationships, receive nothing from them. It’s easier to play it safe versus go deep. It’s easier to do activities together than to practice transparency. It’s easier to be a fan of someone else than a true friend. It’s easier to laugh off mistakes than to address them. LOVING STRONG involves risking strong in any relationship. Courage and faith are required. NO risks, NO reward. Learn to take the right risks in your relationships and LOVE STRONG in this powerful session with men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck.
The famous mathematician/philosopher Pascal once said, "There are two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous." His point? The two different kinds of thinking lead to two different lives and sets of relationships with others. One man can connect with everybody. The other selectively connects with people like him. One man avoids certain kinds of people. The other engages those same people. One steers clear. The other draws near. One loves. The other is pseudo-religious. Why make the distinction? Because Jesus was more like one and NOT like the other. When it came to loving people in his context, Jesus has only one filter - an honest need. When he found this in someone he would "jump in the the boat" and make it to that person's shore whatever the winds or waves he had to face culturally. Jesus was dangerously attractive, inviting, and controversial. Why? Because he didn't only love those close to him or like him well, he loved perfect strangers, unacceptables, and undesirables well and broke the rules of his culture to do it. Will the men who claim to follow him today be known the same way? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this culturally relevant and challenging session in Part 3 of LOVE STRONG.
It's called a "game changer." It is an event, idea, or experience that rocks your world in a positive (or negative) way to the point where you permanently shift the way you go about doing or thinking about something. Think about it. You discover a new power tool that transforms a potential five hour project into a one hour breeze. There is no way you are going back to the old way of doing it. It is "game changer." You discover a new digital technology that eliminates bulky hard equipment, storage needs, and paper processes. Same. It is unthinkable that you would go back to the old way. More personally, maybe you experienced a trauma, loss, or pain so strong that it permanently changed the way you on an emotional level and how you go about life and relationships. It reshaped you. The common denominator? You are permanently different after the experience. The Bible declares that your experience with God's love is intended to be the single most powerful game changer in your life. In fact, understood and applied personally, it is intended to permanently shift the way you go about ALL your relationships. You become a man who LOVES STRONG and people see that the game has changed for you. Do they see that? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful session on how God's presence in your life is game-changing for your relationships.’’
Every man knows that if he is not doing relationships right, he is not doing life right. Think about it. If marriage, family, or close relationships that MATTER to you are not good ...you are not good! In fact, we get frustrated with ourselves, mad at ourselves, and then sad over repeated relationship mistakes. Been there? To boot, piling on and tempting us in these moments is the Devil who hates healthy relationships that glorify God and amplify his blessing. In fact, he wants you to be WEAK at loving relationships and STRONG at blaming others or making excuses for yourself. Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for his friends." In other words, LOVE STRONG! Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful experience that will transform your relationships with the people God wants you to love.
Human beings are a complex ball of unfulfilled needs, wants, desires, longings and hopes. Magnifying our dilemmas is the fact that life, others, bosses, spouses, friends, or unplanned circumstances get in the way (how dare they) of us seeing all those needs, wants, desires, longings and hopes being met or realized. What to do - what to do! Do the ends justify the means? Do we want things bad enough to deceive ourselves or others with twisted logic that gets us the result we want but at the expense of the truth? How far is too far? A little lying, a little cheating, a little stealing doesn't hurt anybody right? We tell ourselves: "We work hard. We deserve it. Go for it." Or maybe we go darker and say to ourselves: "Others have hurt us which makes what we are about to do ok." Ever lied to yourself so that you can do what you want to do? If you answered "yes" this session is for you and for every man who wants to be like Jesus or a man of truth because to become one you must be able to turn the tables on lying to self, to God, and to others. This the root of all spiritual warfare - believing truth or believing lies. Are you winning the fight?
Men love the idea of "iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another" but when the sharpening stone is pressed against their personal behavior the real battle begins. Men love competition but they do not like confrontation. No man likes to be told that the way they are believing and behaving is wrong and yet every man, the Bible says, requires loving confrontation. A buddy who is married is clearly flirting with another woman. What do you do? You notice a brother in Christ crossing the line with his drinking into drunkenness. Do you say anything? The banter among the boys goes from funny because something is truly funny to gross or inappropriate funny. Do you keep laughing? No man wants to be a nitpicker or the moral police but the Bible is clear - confrontation plays an important role in the fellowship of believing men - it seeks what is best for the one being confronted. And to be sure, it will not feel like a kindness in the moment but it is one of the most loving things we can do for each other in the company of men. It is not judging, it is helping a man so that he will not be further hurt by his own behavior. Huge difference but a step that requires huge faith and courage in God. You are strategically placed in the lives of other men to both be sharpened and to sharpen - sometimes through confrontation. And when God says, "If not you right now, then who?" What will you do?
Darkness and light surround our daily lives. Light pierces darkness. Light illuminates the mysterious. Light provides safety. Light is hope. Darkness and light also surround and shape our spiritual well-being. God's man is called to avoid one and engage the other. Sin is darkness. Righteousness is light. The Bible says that God is light and advises God's man to "walk in the light." Jesus told his guys that they were "the light of the world." We are called by God to put aside sin and "put on the Armor of Light." All of these truths about light, about God, and about men of faith begs a very important question: "Are you where the light is?" Join pastor and men's expert Kenny Luck for this five week series on being where the light is so we can fulfill Christ's call and live out our truest identity. Hope for many is one man of light away.
Certain people in our lives change the environment the second they appear. Maybe it is a a brother or sister, an aunt or uncle, or a close who friend who you say that they “light up a room” or they are the “life of the party.” Things get better when they are in the mix. The Bible says that God’s man is strategically placed by God and “in the mix” of relationships or situations to make them better and glorify God. We are called to be a strong ingredient when God is cooking up a good plan in the lives of those around us. Sprinkle God’s men into a situation and Jesus says that it will go from bland to better, flavorless to flavorful, and dormant to active for God’s glory RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE. Join men’s expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful session on your personal influence.
Energy. Men measure interest by the amount of it we see expressed. We say, "I don't have any energy about that" or we ask "Where is this energy coming from?" We know that the expression of "energy" physically or emotionally means it's personal. A lot of times we don't if a man has energy about something until a situation presents itself which calls for an expression of previously hidden inner energy. After that we say, "Now I know." The first disciples were unaware of the energy Jesus had about their behavior toward him until it came out in a burst of confrontation and there was no softening the blow. The issue? Believing they could not take what says SERIOUSLY. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny as he unpacks the first, literal, "Come to Jesus meeting" between Christ and his disciples. Uncomfortable? Oh, yah. Necessary? Definitely. They needed to know and so does every man who claims a connection to Jesus.
Wealth. Wisdom. Power. Today's culture is loathe to give a man these three things because it fears that he will use them to serve himself and abuse others. This brand of broken male culture is called toxic masculinity. The message being sent to men could not be clearer: being strong and being a man is toxic - don't empower him because he does not have the character to handle the power and influence he has been given. More to the point, others will suffer due to his strength not having the emotional maturity to guide it. You would think that men who know God would escape this pattern for the simple reason that they understand their actions are visible to God, there is clear instruction from God, and that one day they will give an account before God. Nope! Meet Solomon - the son of an adulterous relationship who - by the grace of God - becomes the object of tremendous favor by God. Not only does God grant Solomon's prayer - making him the wisest of men - but God also makes him rich and powerful. You would think a man so extravagantly blessed by God would take God's direction seriously. You would be wrong. Solomon presumed God would give him a pass - a huge miscalculation no man of God ever wants to make. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this poignant and prophetic message to THIS generation of believing men who are emulating Solomon and to THIS generation of men who are taking Him and what He says seriously.
Starting a race is different than finishing a race. Starting a "DIY" (do-it-yourself) home project and leaving it unfinished is confusing. Or, maybe you have heard it this way: "People don't remember how you start but they will remember how you finish." The big idea is this: starting something doesn't become meaningful until you actually finish what you started. The Bible says the same is true in our journey as God's man. In fact, Jesus put it this way: "Most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved." This is every man's battle who loves and knows God. It is difficult to stay disciplined, sometimes life knocks us off our mark spiritually, or a trauma may throw our faith for a loop. In the Bible a God's man named Asa experienced began his journey of faith super strong but stopped taking God SERIOUSLY as his journey went forward. The result? Heart drift and a poor finish following a strong start. We are just like Asa and can suffer the same legacy. In this powerful session, men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck walks men through how to add a strong finish to a slow, a bumpy, or even a strong start.
Who gets to decide what is best for you? You or God? We can respond in one of three ways. First, we can respond in pride which says to God: "I know better on this one." Second, we can respond in fear which says to God: "Thanks but no thanks, I know how to meet my needs better on this one." Or, third, we can respond in faith which says to God: "You know better." In our journey with God, pride and fear warp obedience, dilute God's authority and assist the Devil in his schemes. Today's culture encourages this type of "self" management. You do you. It's subtle, rational, and self-justifying in the moment. When we act like this, the Bible says that we cease being Christians and start being consumers. We get to decide what's best. The clay replaces the potter. The branch starts acting like it's the vine. The sheep start telling the shepherd what to do. Scripture reveals a God who did not consider our special circumstances or opinions when he declared his will or desire for the different dimensions of life. In fact, He expected us to take what he says SERIOUSLY. The alternative? Borrowing trouble. This powerful series explores men who did and did not take God's direction seriously providing powerful lessons for God's man. In this cultural moment, spiritual consistency and a willingness to surrender fully to God's intentions radiates his light. Will the world see yours?
The only guarantee with adversity is, it’s coming. You can’t schedule its arrival, but you will for sure know when it gets here. The seasons of adversity offer opportunities for spiritual growth and a realization that our God is Sovereign. God makes big asks of us in these moments. Our faithful decisiveness provides opportunity to fulfill God’s purpose.
For most men, their life is full of "loves." In fact, we like to describe a man by what they love. In answer to the question, "What is he like?" we will say "Oh, he loves ..." and then go on to identify what a man values. This would include his attachments to people, his beliefs, his sports teams, his hobbies, types of food or music. To get an accurate picture of who they are, all you have to do is talk about who or what they "love." The downside of loving anything is that that "thing" can be taken away without your permission by any number of unplanned or unwelcomed events. These are called "losses" for a man and they suck! Losses involve no longer being able to connect to who you love or what you love to do. All losses are emotionally challenging but some are excruciatingly difficult and a CRAZY ASK in life. Meet Ezekiel in the Bible - a man called by God and asked by God to give up what he held dear. His story is our story as men of faith. God will require us to suffer the loss of things we "love" - sometimes the most precious things - to perfect, correct, and direct us into His perfect will which is not always comfortable or easy to accept. He should know - he had to do the same thing in giving up his only son. Not gonna lie - this is a challenging but necessary session as men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck helps men of faith navigate challenging moments of loss.
Quick fixes to big problems are hard to come by - especially embarrassing ones. Your computer crashes and you can't get your work completed on time. It will be late. No quick fix. You are on your way to work and your coffee mug tips over onto your shirt and pants. Time to go back home. No quick fix. Without warning your toddler's digestive system decides to jettison the "veggie-carrot" baby food out of its present location inside, outward, onto your friend's carpet. Ever been there? Instead of a quick fix what happens next is an extended process which prolongs the negative "vibes" gurgling inside you. Embarrassing? Yes - but you'll survive. But what about when an embarrassing situation or issue involves a very personal issue that you want solved, fixed, and put away forever but you want it kept on the downlow? It is a secret and personally shameful to you. Going public is NOT an option. You desperately need a quick fix not a public process - that would be a nightmare and a CRAZY ASK. But it's only way out of your embarrassment. It will be a hard process. Meet Naaman from the Bible. His story is our story. More importantly, his process will be your process if you want to experience God's deliverance. He is every man but not every man is as courageous with his faith. When there is no quick fix, will you risk putting your private life into God's public process? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful study in God's Word.
"For such a time as this." Ever said that? Maybe not. But if you have ever been in a desperate situation and someone with the exact set of skills arrived to help, you can identify with this expression. Your car breaks down and the tow truck driver arrives. It's a relief! In the Bible those words are spoken when a person is in the right place at the right time to bring success or deliverance when no one else would be as well suited to the task. They are like a puzzle piece - uniquely designed and shaped for a moment they never expected but must "suit up and show up" to fulfill God's larger purpose. It is a CRAZY ASK. He is asking them to do something either they did not plan to do or don't want to do for many reasons. God has a habit of doing this with his men - putting them in situations where they are uniquely fitted to supply the answer to a pressing problem. In Part 2 you are going to meet a man just like you named Jepthah who - just like you - who is alive at a certain moment in history, is in a certain location on the planet, is in relationship with a certain set of people, has a certain set of skills, and is being asked by God to step up. This is - as we will learn - what God does with every man of faith. But not every man says yes. Will you?
A man knows when he is "coasting." It means that he is not stretching to achieve a higher standard, putting a full effort into his work or sacrificing anything to improve a situation, an endeavor or important relationship. The Bible reveals a personal God who does not believe in"coasting" in your relationship with him and in your service of him. In fact, He will intentionally ask a man of God to do things in faith that, from the man's perspective, are not only personally challenging but are also culturally, physically, or emotionally impossible! He stretches God's man by making a CRAZY ASK in order to reveal a new aspect of himself to that man, prove his faithfulness, and accomplish higher purposes. Think about all the men and women in Scripture who God had to assure with the words: "Don't be afraid." If it takes faith, stretches our faith, or makes you pause because the decision is outside your "comfort zone" spiritually, God is stretching you - for your sake. In this cultural and global moment God is looking for men who will see past their fear with eyes of faith and say "yes" to a CRAZY ASK GOD! Are you ready? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful new faith series and get ready for your next adventure in faith.
in a group of men all it takes is one bad idea. All of us have been there. You are in a group of guys. There is camaraderie. There is energy. There is stupidity! You end doing stuff in a group that you would never choose to do if you were by yourself. And hopefully, you come out of it alive. In a powerful twist, the exact opposite is also true. Same camaraderie. Same energy. Different character of friend. The Bible is clear: our associations determine our destinations as men. Where we will end up in life is influenced greatly by the men we choose to connect with our life. So what destiny is your community of men creating for you? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this final and life changing session on the power of masculine connection in Part 6 of FORCE OF HABIT.
Right habits build the RIGHT LIFE. One of those right habits is hanging out with the RIGHT PEOPLE who will help and support you in building that right life. The battle for every man then becomes about disciplining ourselves and our calendars to make time for your "go to guys." So who are your "go tos"? The Bible reveals a personal God who wants personal time in your personal calendar every day. God says He wants to be your "GO TO" GOD. For that to become a reality, however, the daily habit of meeting with God must be developed and the Bible tells us the reasons why every God's man should make meeting with God his highest priority. Because that is true an unseen and intentional war for your time and priorities is being waged - who wins depends on WHO you choose. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this mission critical session in Part 5 of FORCE OF HABIT.
"I got this." These are words of confidence uttered when we feel command over a situation or challenge. When it comes to the daily management of our lives and walk with God those words don't make sense to Jesus. He said, "I am the Vine and you are the branch. Apart from me you can do nothing." Nothing? Really? But what does that actually mean? How do I actually work that out? Answer: you depend on God for EVERYTHING - big and small. It's a habit that good "branches" develop so that they can be super fruitful. Are you a good branch? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for Part 4 of FORCE OF HABIT and find out.
Big victories are the result of a collection of small wins. BUT visualizing the prize at the end, gives me discipline in the moment. It gives me hope and that hope shapes my habits. These habits provide a road paved with confidence and direction filled with peace. The habit of Listening to God drowns out the noise of this world. When we listen to God and allow for what we hear to leak into our hearts, we experience VICTORY.
The Bible reveals that an authentic relationship with God is a lifestyle - a way to be and believe that produces a way to behave daily. As opposed to what you say? A compartmentalized event or a disconnected set of singular experiences? Yet that is how many men experience God. Before a meal. On a Sunday. When loss or pain suggests we pray. At a men's group. At Christmas and Easter. God is situational. We divide our lives into sacred and secular. He is invited into some aspects and events but not all dimensions of our thinking and living. If God is who the Bible describes him to be it begs the question: How do you compartmentalize an infinite person who is everywhere all at once? Answer: You don't! But that is exactly how we treat God - like an event versus an ever-present person who is walking with us and shaping our behaviors and thoughts in life. Your lifestyle reflects your habits. Your habits reflect your thinking. Your thinking reflects your character. Between your lifestyle and character are your habits and they become driving forces for better or for worse. You will become what you repeatedly do. Think about that for minute and then dive into this powerful study in God's word with men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck. FORCE OF HABIT will help break bad ones, build good ones, and become the man God created you to be.
Jesus’ teachings are not recommendations for how we should “feel.” They are commands for how we should act. Where we prefer to act in compliance with how we feel, Jesus calls us to act in a way that is often in defiance of how we feel. What does that mean? If we plan to follow the commands of Jesus, we will do some things we do not feel like doing. Our gut (aka pride, selfishness, sinful nature, etc.) is going to tell us, “No, this doesn’t work for me.” Jesus is going to tell us…..” IT AIN’T ABOUT YOU! In Luke 6:27, Jesus says, “Love your enemies.” The word “enemy” elicits all kinds of feelings. Today more than ever, we need to be reminded; it is not about our feelings. It is about our doings.
Knowing something through experience is different than knowing about something. Head knowledge is good but heart knowledge through experiencing something or someone is way better. Someone asks: "Do you know him?" You can have one of three responses: "I don't know him" or "I know about him but we are not friends" or "I know him personally and he is a close friend." When it comes to God's love and your personal connection to Christ, God wants a heart - not just a head - connection! There is a big gap between "I know a lot about God" and "I know him" by experiencing Him. Distance and detachment versus closeness and connection. More specifically, God's love was never intended to stay in your head. It is not a knowledge thing it is a knowing that rises above lifeless knowledge. God's love is intended to travel from your head and flood downward into your heart and change you forever. It is a battle you must fight and win. In Part 5 of theThe Inner Man men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck reveals the keys which unlock the gate so that you can experience a breakthrough of God's love in your life. God's love is a fact but it is meant to be felt.
If your identity has never been stolen you probably know someone who has been exploited. Sensitive and personally identifiable information was compromised and a HACKER started stealing their livelihood ruining their life for a period of time. There was a security breach. Did you know that your identity in Christ and your inner security in him is under attack right now? A Hacker is attempting to breach your inner man and he is seeking to compromise the truest truths about you - that you are fully accepted, fully loved and fully defined by God's love. The attack is subtle - it is simply a suggestion that God is, somehow, limited and unable to deliver what you need in some aspect of your life. The Hacker infects your thinking with repeated thoughts of "your are losing out" or "you are missing out" or "you are striking out" because of your faith. The message is DON"T TRUST GOD. Instead, trust yourself. Take God's place on this issue. Move over God. Stop living in and out of his love and start living in and out of fear. When that happens your inner man is corrupted and your identity has been taken over by an intruding and unwelcome presence. In Part 4 of INNER MAN, men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck helps all men of faith recognize and respond to spiritual attack on the inner man. Will you recognize the red flags of a breach to your inner security? What are the signs your inner man has been hacked by fear? Will you be exploited or will you neutralize the threat?
Sometimes the best lessons of our lives are discovered through the "backdoors" God opens while we are waiting for life to unfold a certain way. Initially, we don't like being delayed but then, with hindsight, we see the wisdom of the back door plan God had in mind. We often don't think of Jesus having to wait on God for anything but the Bible reflects a completely different picture. He had to wait - a long time in some instances - on the Father's green light. And, as men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck is going to reveal in this study, he is waiting on YOU! Jesus is determined and decided - he is RESOLVED - to wait for the next part of his existence to unfold God's way. In this concluding session of this series, He is going model what is meant for us today!
Ever made a bad decision that taught you a good lesson. Godly men become godly not because they make perfect decisions but because they repent well from their bad ones! They RESOLVE to take their lumps well and not come out of a situation without the lesson. That's exactly what the Paul in the Bible did and God used the consequence of a bad decision to change his life and the lives of billions forever. How? Because he waited well on God! He couldn't have know it at the time but he is glad he did! How about you? What powerful outcome is on the other side of your waiting room of life right now? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck to unpack the core disciplines you can do right now as you wait for God to move your life forward.
God makes you a promise. You get excited. Then... KABOOM! Life happens and his promise seems a distant memory because life has taken you down a slippery slope of misery and difficulty? Ever feel like that? What happened to your faith? How did you get out of it? Are you still stuck in it? The Bible says that God never stops working even though you feel he has taken a coffee break with respect to moving your life forward. He is on the move if we have eyes of faith and wait well! In part 3 of RESOLVE we meet a man who somehow managed to live out that belief in real time and it ushered him right into the promise God made years before. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful session and find true power to wait well and experience God's presence and promise in your right now life.
Timing is everything. When you are in pain or in the cloud of unknowing, you want things to move faster so that you can experience peace and clarity sooner. When the "stars are aligning" in your favor you don't want the good times to end. Above all our wishing and hoping in the ups and downs of life is the Providence and goodness of God. He is there and working out His plan outside of what is happening to us - good or bad. In fact, God is on the move right now in your life! David was a person who experienced both extremes and RESOLVED to seek God in both the peaks and the pits of life. Flawed and vulnerable He waited well on God. How about you right now? Think about it. Life is moving forward. Something else other than your present reality is coming. Things will change. But until that moment comes, how do we work with God prior to things getting clear or cloudy, better or challenging? In Part 2 of RESOLVE men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck shines the light on the man "after God's own heart" and some specific steps he took while he waiting for the next chapter of his life to unfold.
A man's uniform is a physical representation of his identity. It symbolize’s his appointed position, helps regulate his level of accountability, and accelerates his authority. The same can be said about a man of God. By way of our appointment, we have a designated uniform that represents our identity. Our response to being chosen and appointed is to put on our uniform and take a stand. All of God's weapons are at our disposal, but all is worthless unless we put His uniform.
Families are full of imperfect and flawed human beings. Because of this conflict is inevitable. Think about a toddler who doesn’t get what they want or whose expectations are not met. Now just add 10, 20, or 30 years to that same person. Still imperfect, still flawed, still full of unmet needs and desires living under the same roof. Conflict in families knows no age limit. However, did you know that God has a desire for you in all your disagreements? Did you know that God says anger is normal ? Did you know that anger can be present but sin does not have to be? Did you know that The Devil is waiting to pounce and seize every opportunity anger presents? In part four of FIGHT FOR THE FAM men’s expert and pastor Kenny Luck takes you in a journey into God’s Word that will show you exactly how to handle conflict, not destroy, keep evil at bay, and glorify God.
A refuge. A safe harbor. A fortress that protects. This is who God is and it is also what he wants your family to be in the midst of the cultural tempest slamming into people. Family is the relational desire and core expression of God himself. He is a father with children and as our powerful guardian he will fight for and care for us in specific ways. He shows how to foster and fight for our own families. In Part 2 of FIGHT FOR THE FAM men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck unpacks how God feels about family and what he wants to see happening in yours.
Why is your family so important to God? The FAMILY unit forms people - it gives foundational experiences that we carry with us the rest of our lives and into the next generation. Moms, dads, brothers, and sisters were God's choice from the beginning to bless us and bless the world. The FAMILY is under siege in under attack by cultural forces today like no other time in history to thwart God's original mission of forming the next generation and blessing the world. The question for every man connected to one in any way - as a husband, a father, a son, or a brother is this: Do you know how to fight for your family? We are in a fist fight with evil and his target is God's best community of acceptance and training - your family! This exciting new series FIGHT FOR THE FAM is for every man connected to a family and will equip you to fight effectively against the forces that - at this moment - want to tear to pieces. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck to get equipped and enter the FIGHT FOR THE FAM versus become a casualty. Victory is yours with the right battle plan. Make a stand.
Relationships are a risk. You commit to someone without knowing if they will stay committed to you. You invest in the relationship. You make promises. You sacrifice for the people you love. But then a distance starts to creep in. Emotionally there's a change. The connection is strained. Something has come between. We all know what it looks like or perhaps have experienced it ourselves. It looks like an affair or adultery or cheating on someone else. In your relationship with God, God wants your loyalty and commitment in the presence of a powerful force that seeks to draw you away from Him - the world. Here's the problem - you can't blend a commitment to the values of the world when you are in a relationship with God. But how do we stay faithful under the constant pressure and pull of our appetites, our desires, and our insecurities? In Part 5 of NOT OF IT men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck dives into the problem of spiritual adultery among God's men and how to say "no" to the world by saying "yes" to God on a daily basis.
There was a time when we would meet someone, find something in common, and the conversation would ensue. Lately if feels like that dynamic has shifted into our society fixated on finding what we don’t have in common and live in that space. Sadly it feels as of late that message has been amplified beyond our control. Now days having an opinion can be terrifying for some to share and that can be where hate starts to enter one’s heart. In those moments we feel like we are taking a position in favor of an issue, when in reality, we’re favoring hate.
In today’s study, NO ROOM FOR HATE, we navigate how to caution ourselves in those moments where our feelings are in conflict with our faith. Our feelings are telling us to react strongly about our opinion and our faith is telling us to react lovingly toward those people. Our feelings want us to think of ourselves first. Our faith wants us to remember the words of Jesus when he said In Mark 8:34, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way…”. More than ever do we need a reminder that when you sprinkle even the slightest bit of hate into the recipe, that’s exactly what you get.
Ever had a deal come across your life that was hard to refuse? Whatever comes into our minds, no deal in human history was ever as big as the one Jesus rejected. Imagine being offered the entirety of the world's wealth, pleasures, and notoriety. All earthly desires? Done. All earthly wealth? Yours. All earthly significance and fame? Golden. Sounds amazing but what were the terms of the deal? How did he respond? What did he say? While it is a different time and different culture, the same deal is being offered to every man who loves God on planet earth. You cannot escape it. Jesus' advice? Lose the world to gain your soul. But what does that mean? How does that fit into the context of my life and culture today? What kind of strength is required to say no? In Part 4 of NOT OF IT men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck will help you navigate the cultural riptide and battle so that you be in the world but not of the world as Jesus said.
Not being "of the world," as Jesus describes every man of God, means we have a different source, a different means of influence, and a different mindset living "in the world." When Jesus briefed the disciples about their mission on earth he said it has to come with a mindset: "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves." Jesus didn't provide false hope or codependent comfort. He gave it to them straight. He did not want them to be ignorant. He needed them to think right about themselves and the spiritual reality surrounding them in the world as it related to their mission. Think about wolves for second - you don't want to be caught alone against a pack of them. The solution for this? Be shrewd and be innocent. In today's cultural riptide Christians are surrounded by strong and powerful mindsets that are not of God but of the world. Their influence over us is subtle but effective. Jesus says you have to be alert and sober to the reality of the spiritual battle being waged in between your ears. You have to have the right mindset to not just survive but take territory for God. In the midst of cultural upheaval and challenge, God's men must be shrewd and be innocent to advance God's Kingdom and not be hijacked by the enemy. In part 3 of "NOT OF IT" men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck takes us into the briefing room with Jesus himself. Your mission is a "GO."
Jesus told his disciples that they would stand out by not allowing themselves to be controlled by cultural movements or thinking that excluded God or were hostile to God. They would be swimming up stream for sure - especially when it came to choosing Christ above longstanding cultural norms. The many new challenges they never had to consider before were facing them like a large tidal wave. Can you relate? In today's cultural riptide, one wrong word or statement and you get a label or are excluded from relationships with others. It is happening in culture and happening among believers. Behind this symphony of conflict and destruction is the Great Divider, the sworn enemy of healthy connection between people. And just like Jesus' disciples who had their moment in time, every Christian alive today has this powerful moment, a powerful enemy against them, and a powerful mission to engage and use the events of the world to influence others for God. Will you be able to rise above culture, engage it, and overcome it. In Part 2 of NOT OF IT, pastor and men's expert Kenny Luck explores the four ways Jesus told his disciples they would stand out in the midst, not in the absence of, a challenging and sometimes hostile culture.
Right now everybody's insides are pouring out and onto to the streets, into conversations at the dinner table, and creating a host of negative and separating emotions. We are being forced to stake out positions, plant ourselves, and take a side. It is unavoidable. What also seems to be unavoidable is identifying ourselves with cultural and political positions at the expense of our biblical and spiritual identity. There's a word for that - it's called "hijacking." Issues are being conflated and blended and eventually taken over by agendas that just don't feel right to us on every side of the cultural and political spectrum. How do you identify yourself? What does that identity tell you to do and say? What allegiance is owed to that identity? What outcomes does that identity, energy, and allegiance produce for your relationships with God and people? Jesus knew his disciples needed clarity on who they were or else they would not know what to under the cultural pressures of their times. In Part 1 of NOT OF IT author and pastor Kenny Luck takes us back to the most clarifying about you, about this cultural moment, and about your conduct within it by shining the light on what Jesus declares to his disciples about their primary identity and allegiance in the midst of powerful cultural tension
When tensions are high, the worst place to be is in the middle of them without clarity. This moment culturally has pushed our collective backs to the wall in terms of race relations, making us look at the cultural experience for people of color and form a response consistent with…
The current discussion of race and the racial divide in our country is a challenging and emotional one for everybody. It is easy, depending on who your audience is, to get into thick brush and impassable jungle. It is equally concerning and confusing to the world that the most segregated hour in America is still Sunday mornings. In a society that embraces diversity in every facet and dimension of life, somehow it continues to be elusive for the one group of people it should be most true of - Christians. Racial reconciliation is a Gospel imperative but why is it so difficult? Could it be that God is allowing certain events to take place and to rise to the surface powerfully so that we can finally see the true cultural reality more clearly and respond differently? In Part 2 of this series Pastor and men's expert Kenny Luck, along with Pastor Eric Lee, speaks into how God's people are directed from the Bible to redemptively act when the temptation is to racially divide. The Body of Christ has not just a mandate but a golden opportunity to become comprehensively (versus selectively) biblical. In the process, it can also present the culture with a clear picture and demonstration of the Gospel.
What is my response to the unjust, brutal, and untimely death of George Floyd? You have to have one because it is - literally - everywhere and everyone is talking energetically. What kind of energy do you have right now? Not much. Some. Or, a lot. Safe to say all of us are processing, all of us are feeling, and all of us are struggling to respond the right way. Some are denying and this conversation is not for them. But for those choosing to be IN the conversation, we are also struggling with what to do with what we feel. Turn on cable news and you see that struggle first hand. It is a kaleidoscope of hopelessness and pain but it is also a door of opportunity for millions to change the way they think about race, reconciliation, and new responses that can create a massive cultural shift. Will you be a part of that? Will men of faith be a part of it? Will the church be a part of that shift? Join Pastors Ricky Jenkins and Kenny Luck for this in-depth, raw, personal, confronting, and spiritually challenging conversation about race, the cultural reality, and the right response.
Part 4
Sometimes we know right away because it hurts. Sometimes we are used to it and don't realize it until many years or decades later. A dad left us. A friend that betrayed us. A business partner that stole from us. Perhaps people abused us. Spouses that gave up on us. Welcome to a broken humanity. The common denominator of all hurt is that you get sad and mad. Most men stuff their hurts and walk around with it quietly and never talk about it until they have to, are forced to, or the pain is greater than the need to hide it any more. Other men walk around with a big fat chip on their shoulder determined that no one will ever hurt them again, trying to control everyone and everything to self-protect against future injury. Jesus predicted such pain and showed us a better way to handle it. His way? Forgiveness. Really? Jesus says there is no way around it if you want to live and experience joy again as a human being. There's just one catch - if you have not experienced it at a deep level it is hard to offer it. Worse, if you have experienced it and don't offer it? That's the BIG "IF" that could make or break your future forever with God and people. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful journey into God's mind on forgiveness.
Part 3
Here is a bottom line truth in life...IMPORTANT relationships get your time and energy. Those that are not ...DON"T. Giving time. Staying connected. Re-arranging priorities. Sacrificing other things to spend time. That communicates one thing - the other person TRULY matters to you. Really smart men discipline themselves toward their most important relationships. And those that don't wish they did. The reason we have to get this straight is because sometimes we SAY relationships are important but... if you are not making deposits of time and energy ....your words will mean nothing and your connection will dry up. TRUE with the people in your life. ALSO true with God. After all, he is a person who feels, who senses, and can recognize the VIBE we send to HIm by where we spend time, how we spend our time, and who we spend it with. If you haven't thought about it lately, your connection to God is really important... to God! So.... are you closely connected right now to him? IF not, there is good news, he is waiting for you! If you ARE close right now, can I give some advice? Stay close! Guard your connection. Don't let anything separate you from Jesus, his love, and his presence. It's a daily battle. It's full of hard decisions. You will be tested. You will be tempted. And right now... God is saying "I got you. Don't let go."
Today we are in Part 2 of our latest men's series called the BIG IF...and to get you ready let me ask you a question. Do you like clear, simple communication? You know the kind that allows for simple responses, simple choices, and simple connection with whoever you are talking with? If your answer is YES then you are gonna love this series. I also think that we can agree that language matters in relationships - but it especially matters in your relationship with God. And on that front it's a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that God speaks clearly and uses simple IF/THEN language when talking about how we can connect to him and experience Him. The bad news is that we can choose the negative consequences of going against his revealed will and plan. Today's study is no different - Jesus says simply "Anything is possible if a man believes." I want IN on that don't you? Anything is possible? That is exactly what Jesus said and is saying right now to you - no matter what challenge you may be facing right now. So now the question is: what does believing mean exactly so I can see God's power flow into my life? That's what we are going to dive into right now.. but before we do that ... do you know of anyone facing a difficult situation or circumstance who needs the hope of Jesus' promise if we believe?
When the pressure underneath the surface exceeds the pressure on top of the surface you have a good old fashioned explosion. Doesn't matter whether it's pot on your stove or magma simmering for years under earth's crust or a global pandemic that has forced people indoors for 2 months - pressure over time will produce an eruption. You can see the lid beginning to foam and the steam escaping the surface of this COVID 19 pressure cooker which is about to spill over and onto the street. This experience and the changes it has brought will be felt in the coming days, weeks, and months in every dimension of life and culture. The question for people of faith is: "What will be the overflow onto culture from all of the work God did in us during this crisis?" The blueprint for a group of Christ followers told to quarantine themselves, receive power from heaven, and then explode out upon their culture is found in the Bible. What did that look like? What did people say? How did that moment change history? In the last session of The Corona Chronicles men's expert and pastor Kenny will challenge every believer from to work out in culture what God has worked into them through a crisis. God's unplanned plan is for the work His Spirit during the waiting period to be followed by a power period which glorifies God and influences millions.
We live in a culture that is changes faster than ever before. Like a fast moving rapid once you are in it - it is hard to get out of it's grip and avoid its pull upon your whole life. But that is exactly what God has done for most of us in the COVID CRISIS. The once foreign and remote idea of a national quarantine is now a daily reality. As we have discovered - in the midst of the craziness GOD is moving in us and all around us. We are resetting our lives. We are rethinking our priorities. We are recommitting to people. We are reconsidering how we live, what we believe, and where we will be placing our personal and professional energy as men. Will you make the shift successfully? Or will you hold on to to your assumptions and approaches to life and living? That's the very real and very daunting challenge of this moment as it appears a transition is occurring as a carefully orchestrated resumption of the global human ecosystem begins. For perhaps the only time in our lives, the obstacle of a pandemic has now become the opportunity of lifetime to change some things. Or not. In Part 6 of The Corona Chronicles: God's Unplanned Plan For Your Life men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck is going to explore how disruptions can take us to the new destinations God's plan.
To get us ready for today's study let me ask you a question: Have you ever had the windshield of your car fog up? You know ... where you can't see through it and it makes it hard to drive? Not only is it dangerous but it makes you nervous when you can't see what is front of you clearly! Or maybe you have a window in your house that has a lot build up on it and you can't see through it. The bottom line is that we need to get rid of that fog on the windshield and spray some glass cleaner on that window so we can see what is on the other side. THAT... is exactly what God is up to right now with this circumstance. He is removing the build up. He is clearing up the fog. But for what purpose? So that you can SEE HIM CLEARLY.
Part 4: THE CORONA CHRONICLES
Rising above. Think about it. The greatest moments in history involve poor odds, limited resources, desperate times, and snatching victory from almost certain defeat. Movies are made about these moments and when we watch them we feel something inside. Sure, we are pulling for the characters in these stories but we are so invested emotionally because the person we are really pulling for - in reality - is ourselves! We project ourselves into the story. We project our challenges into their challenges. We hope for ourselves the exact thing we are hoping for them. Either they will succumb under the pressure to their negative circumstances and emotions or - through some personal motivation, perspective or hope - they will transcend them. Right now, that's everyone. We hear impressive people right now say depressive things like "it's going to be worse before it gets better" or perhaps we hear from a boss that the company is being forced into lay-offs. What will the future hold? And it is that moment that fear and sadness face off against faith and hope. Who will win? In Part 4 of the Corona Chronicles Pastor Kenny Luck is going to remind all people of faith that you own some wings that will create the exact lift you need to rise above.
Part 3: THE CORONA CHRONICLES: GOD'S UNPLANNED PLAN
How do you react when your plans are interrupted? Normal people get frustrated. We say things like: "Really!" or "You have got to be kidding me right now!" or "Seriously!" Those are the PG rated versions - others are more colorful but they all mean the same thing You had an expectation and - now through no fault of your own - that EXPECTATION is being replaced with a "SITUATION" you must now adjust to and navigate. No human being plans their own interruptions. But God - on the other hand - specializes transforming and using all of life's interruptions to achieve what our carefully planned "smooth seas" could never do. In Part 3 of the Corona Chronicles Pastor Kenny Luck is going to reveal the key decisions that move you into God's supernatural plan when it appears your plans and dreams are being interrupted.
PART 2: The Corona Chronicles: God's Unplanned Plan
"CRAZY" is a word you are hearing a lot right now - especially on social media - as people strive to make sense of the upside down circumstance they find themselves in. Strangest of all? Just a few short weeks ago everything was normal and now the new normal is ...well...CRAZY! Every major aspect of life for all of us, it seems, has been cancelled. And yet, there is a weird, almost surreal thing happening in the midst of CRAZY. People are coming together in new ways. People are helping each other in new ways. People are serving each other in new ways. People are sensing that some "other thing" is happening and, whatever it is, it is refreshing. In Part 2 of the Corona Chronicles, men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck is going to reveal what many feel and show how God has an unplanned plan for your relationships that transcends a virus to a new vision for how you do community.
If you are joining this ever-growing community of men for the first time this morning ... WELCOME ...and buckle up! This morning we are finishing what has been one of the most challenging and transforming series we have ever broadcast...THE RED LETTER WARNINGS. RED LETTERS? Those are the words of Jesus. WARNINGS? Those are the urgent or challenging statements spoken to followers of Jesus that - if not heeded - carry dramatic consequences for your relationship with God. And if you thought the first four sessions were strong...this final session is going to take an "X-RAY" of your spiritual life. Now like with any X-RAY, you are going to see what God sees in you. Some of you will already know it's there and God will ask for a new response. Others of you will be made aware for the first time that there is something you need to address or remove. But most of all what I want you to know this morning is that you are in good hands as all of us seek to take our next spiritual step. GOD is with you and I want to encourage you to be courageous this morning. Now before we dive in to today's study, take a moment and share this session with your friends who will be blessed by this mornings encounter with God. Also let us know you are tuning in...say hi...and let us know where you are watching the LIVESTREAM from. OK... you ready for this?
You happen to be joining us for a powerful and challenging series called the RED LETTER WARNINGS and today we're in Part 4. As the title implies, all words in our lives are not equal - especially when you are a follower of Christ. When he issues a warning - the smart man pays attention and responds. Now to get you ready for today's study... I have a simple question for you: IF YOU KNEW IN ADVANCE THAT SOMEONE IMPORTANT WAS COMING TO YOUR HOUSE...LET'S SAY ....THE PRESIDENT ... OR A CELEBRITY...OR IMPORTANT FAMILY GUESTS FOR A PARTY... WOULD YOU GET READY FOR THEIR ARRIVAL? WHAT WOULD YOU DO? WHAT WOULD YOUR MINDSET BE? That is the theme of today's RED LETTER WARNING
If you are joining us for the first time I want to extend a special welcome to you and let you know that you are a parT if an ever growing community of men who desire to live out their true identity in Christ. In fact, that is the challenge from Jesus. Now to help get your mind and heart better prepared for today’s study, think about someone you call a really close friend - someone you have gone through a lot with - someone you would call on when you were in a tough spot. Got there face in your head? OK - now imagine that same person is asked by someone if they know you? Think about what you would expect them to say? You are pretty confident because your relationship they would not only get excited to say they knew you but they would be able to comment on what great guy you are but also go into detail about your history As bro’s, some of your your experiences and your close connection. right? Well what if you found out later that ... not only did your “close friend” not claim a connection but he denied knowing you at all by staying silent? Now if you’re like me you would say “well that would never happen because we are so close” right? I mean that would be way confusing. In today’s study men’s expert and pastor Kenny Luck is going to look at what Jesus expects when we are asked about our connection to him. In part 3 of the Red Letter Warnings Jesus warns his followers about denying their identity in Christ. So buckle up. Before we get started I am sure there are some friends you can think of that would be challenged and blessed by today’s study. So take a second ... click share and go through the discussion questions connected to this study at a later time.
Well if you are just joining us ... we are in Part 2 of a series called THE RED LETTER WARNINGS. If you own a Bible ...then you probably know the red letters in the second half of it are the words of Jesus. In Part 1 we recognized that some statements that Jesus makes to his disciples are - let's just say - a lot stronger than others. There is an urgency and importance that is noticeable because he knows the truth about something, he loves his guys, and there are big consequences at stake. Today ...men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck is going to dive into the second RED LETTER WARNING of Jesus. I'm going to let Kenny unpack that for you in just a moment. But to get you ready let me ask you a question: Have you ever met someone who claimed to be religious or super spiritual and then they didn't practice what they preached? (Pause) Well, that's where we are headed today... but before we get started I am sure you know of someone who wants to know and walk with Jesus more closely - and if you do - this is the perfect message to share with them.
Session 1
Most of my day to day conversations with friends and family don't require me to be serious or raise my voice to get someone's attention. But sometimes ... there are some issues... there are some situations ....where I will raise my tone...or I will have to be more seriousness... or ... I will choose our words more intentionally the moment or topic of discussion calls for it. Think about a guide talking to a team about climbing Mt. Everest ... it's a serious challenge that requires a very serious conversation because there are serious consequences if you are not made aware of the realities you will face on the mountain. That's the idea behind this exciting new series we are calling the RED LETTER WARNINGS. These are the statements by Jesus to his men that have real consequences for your relationship with God. These are truths that reflect his strong love and concern for us. But most importantly, the RED LETTER WARNINGS require a response that will change your relationship with Christ. The Every Man team is praying that you are going to be blessed and challenged and transformed as we encounter Jesus' words.
We have been learning from God’s Word that every man of God needs to develop spiritual endurance (that was part one) … and that when it comes to your ability to withstand hardship, testing, and adversity over the long haul in your faith journey… LIGHTER IS BETTER (we need to shed sin in our lives right now)…we also learned that HOPE IS HUGE (that the prize of enduring is worth the price… in Part 4 we learned the ENCOURAGEMENT IS ESSENTIAL (that we need to receive it regularly in the middle of our race because afterward it does us no good) …which brings us to Part 5 and TODAY’s powerful concluding study in God’s Word. Men’s expert and Pastor Kenny Luck is going to be sharing how ETERNITY fuels the spiritual ENDURANCE of God’s man. Think about it … as God’s man we can make choices that die with us OR we can make choices that last forever and give glory to God. That fact should gives the whole idea that “choices have consequences” a whole different weight and power in your life.
Today we will be bringing you PART 4 of the ENDURANCE SERIES with men’s expert and pastor Kenny Luck … today we are going to see that when it comes to your spiritual endurance for Christ …your ability to withstand pressure to compromise or give up…and stay faithful over a lifetime.... ENCOURAGEMENT IS ESSENTIAL. Think about it … men who are given encouragement on their journey, take it to heart, and put it to work emotionally are WAY more likely to finish strong than those who receive little or no encouragement. Here is the problem … did you know that most men … including the ones you think are so spiritual … are suffering right now from a lack of encouragement? In fact…we all need to know that a small but meaningful dose of encouragement in the middle of a race is worth more than an hour of congratulations AFTER a race.
As we get ready for SESSION 3 OF THE ENDURANCE SERIES… we are going to ask a question that will help us apply today’s study and here it is… are you ready?
What is something you have done that was REALLY HARD and TOOK SOME TIME, but when you finished the process you said to yourself, “That was worth it.”
I know that some of you immediately thought about a physical race…you trained hard physically for that race … you finished it … or set a personal record…or even won! Lots of guys can identify with that. Hard but worth it. Others of you took a risk and started a business and battled to grow it, fought to make payroll for months, and finally users or customers got consistent and you started making money. What about in the area of relationships? I would be willing to bet that a lot of guys out there went into marriage bright eyed and fully optimistic until you had to work through some hard issues with your wife that you couldn’t just fix…that was reeaaalllly hard but also realllly worth it. It even brought you closer which is for sure …worth it. The big idea for us to think about is this: IF WE THINK THE PRIZE/OUTCOME/RESULT IS WORTH IT – WE WILL PAY WHATEVER PRICE, ENDURE WHATEVER CHALLENGE, AND ENGAGE ANY OBSTACLE TO SEE IT THROUGH. Another way of saying it is that when it comes to our endurance, OUR OBJECT OF HOPE is huge.
Download The Message Notes Here: https://www.everymanministries.com/download/the-endurance-series-part-3-message-notes/
SESSION 2 Everybody knows that if you are going to be walking, or running, or riding a long distance … LIGHTER is better. Think about it. Can you imagine a marathon runner at the starting line holding 50lb. dumbbells in his hands? You would say “That guy is a dumbbell!” because you know he will not get very far before he has to stop to rest or give up all together. Here is the thing though…as unimaginable as that seems …so many of us are doing the exact same thing in our journey with God…spiritually, we are carrying around sin while we try run the race of faith. And just like that marathoner trying to run with dumbbells…we can allow sin to remain a part of our lives while trying to live Christ. How’s that going? The good news is that every man can get “lighter” right now, go farther than you ever imagined right now, and feel as strong as you ever felt in your faith right now as God’s man … BUT we are going to have to shed the sin that is holding us back and drop the disobedience dragging us down. Will it be a battle? Of course. Will it be a process? Probably. But as we will learn today in Part Two of The Endurance Series – less sin means more energy for relationship with God, more endurance for God, and more impact for God on earth.
SESSION 1
So many things in our lives are requiring less and less time. High tech advancements have shortened just about every aspect of our lives. Think about it. We can send (hold up phone) and expect for someone to receive a personal text message half way around the world and then that person can respond to us as long as there WIFI. So many things can happen so fast and, nowadays, there is not a lot of patience for things that take a long time, for situations that can’t be fixed quickly, or for results that don’t come on our timetable. In fact, the research says we are bailing out faster, quitting earlier, and giving up sooner than ever before on people, on jobs, on new experiences, or just about anything that inconveniences us or causes discomfort. That’s why we are starting a new series today called The Endurance Series. The Bible says that the man of God is a man who must learn how to endure in his faith. That’s what we are going to cover in Part One this morning with Pastor and Men’s expert Kenny Luck. Maybe you feel like you are ready to give up or maybe know a friend who is on the edge.
SESSION 5 – TRANSFORMING WITH GOD
We get pictures sent in from churches in every part of the country and world that show men in fellowship halls, around tables, using the outlines, and having discussions. Question: How is men’s ministry going in your church? Do you have a weekly study you can count on to touch and transform men? If you like what the Every Man livestream is doing for you personally, think about what it could mean to the other men in your church or community. We believe that God is raising up movement catalysts and if you have felt that TUG inside to reach the men of your church and community – go to everymanministries.com and get your subscription today that gives you access to dozens of curriculums and content. Start that WILDFIRE in your church and see what happens.
As we finish up this powerful series called WITH GOD… we don’t want anyone to think this is has been a journey of getting some great spiritual information. THAT would be a fail. But if the truth that has been shared in sessions 1-4 is being trusted we should see what we are going to discuss this morning – TRANSFORMATION. I like it when Pastor Kenny says “INFORMATION WITH OUT APPLICATION AND TRANSFORMATION IS HALLUCINATION.” In other words, if I have an authentic relationship with God where is He is pouring into me and I am listening …that means that my thinking will begin to change, my living will begin change, and I will be transforming as a man. When is truly with God – he will truly transform and those around him will take notice.
But before we dive into to today's study … share this powerful session with friends so that they can experience the transforming and healing power of Jesus. Thanks for doing that.
SESSION 4 – LISTENING TO GOD
They are refueling just like you, they are recommitting to the fight just like you, and they are going to enter some spaces for Jesus today just like you to take territory BACK from evil. The Every Man Team wants all of you Sons of the King to know that you are NOT alone, we are praying for you, and this morning we declare victory over any evil coming against your life in Jesus name and speak the power of His Spirit onto you, in you, and through you. We are team Jesus and we will always have your back.
Well if you are joining us for the first time, or are coming back to the Every Man LIVESTREAM, we are in a powerful series called WITH GOD. The big idea in this series is this: there are ways we can relate to God that have MORE to do with our needs, our desires, or our fears and LITTLE or NOTHING to do with connecting to God himself. And just like there is a rhythm and SIGNALS we send in our relationships with people that let THEM know we are present to be WITH them…the same is true in your connection to God. In today’s study we are going to look at the one signal that communicates your interest in another person in the strongest and clearest way – do you know what it is? LISTENING. In world filled with distractions, shiny objects, endless push notifications from every app on our phone, and a relentless battle with HURRY – the first thing to go is our ability to SLOW, listen thoughtfully to another person, take it in, receive it, and respond in a way that tells them we were actually LISTENING! In today’s culture, it is a special and rare skill that makes you stand out. Ever think why that is? Because when we sense a person is really listening to us – we know they care about us. Same is true in your relationship with God. The only question that remains now is – WHAT SIGNAL ARE YOU SENDING? Buckle up. This session can change forever how you connect with God – and – even how you are connecting with others in your life.
It helps everyone else watching realize that there are thousands of men, just like them, that God is calling to live out their truest identity as a Son of the King.
As we get ready to receive God’s word for today, I want you to think of a time when you were on walk or maybe a hike with someone. Doesn’t matter where the walk is happening – in the city, out in the country, or on the ocean – but the goal is to walk together and experience what ever you see, whatever you sense, or whatever you encounter TOGETHER. Imagine you start out walking together but the other person is getting distracted or focused on something else besides you and starts walking ahead of you. Or maybe instead of walking ahead of you they lag behind. In both cases, do you know what the common denominator is? If you thought to yourself or said the word DISTANCE you would be right. The bible says that God desires to walk with us and while many of us start out walking WITH him, as time passes, as life speeds up, as things we didn’t plan on happening happen… well… we can find ourselves not walking with God but walking alone and by ourselves. In today’s session we are going to learn what walking with God looks likes and means from God’s perspective, why it matters so much, and how NOT to run ahead of him or DROP behind in your connection to him because both places create distance and both places are dangerous for the relationship.
But before we dive into to today's study … think about all the people you know who desire a walk with God or … more importantly need to learn how to walk with God … know anybody like that? Now… share this powerful session with them. Thanks for doing that.
SESSION 2 – BEING WITH GOD
No matter where you are tuning in from just know that there are thousands of your brothers tuning in with you who are part of a movement of Spirit Empowered men called to be Dangerous with Goodness in your part of the world.
When it comes to being with someone – it’s easy to be in the same space. But depending on what is happening on the inside you might be in the right space but your heart is in a totally different space. That’s why Jesus would say things like “They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Did you here that. He is saying that men claiming a relationship with and who were with him were actually FAR from him in spirit. There was no hiding that fact! He knew that we could say the right spiritual things, be in the right spiritual places, and make the right spiritual motions while, at the same time, be totally disconnected from the heart of God. If that kind of relationship with God sounds like acting – that’s exactly what it is! So why bring that up in preparation for this week’s LIVESTREAM… glad you asked! Just like we can see and sense when a person standing in front of us is detached or not “with us”– it us SUPER TRUE in your connection to God. God is a person and actually can see you from the inside out! And… just like you would question a person’s desire to be with you if they were constantly distracted by other thoughts or concerns or their smart phone, God feels the same way. Now if you are like me – the one person you don’t want to feel that is Jesus. In today’s session we are going to learn what being with God looks likes and means from God’s perspective, why it matters so much, and how God will respond to your sincere and authentic presence.
But before we dive into to today's study … think about all the people you know who want a good connection with God… and share this powerful session with them. Thanks for doing that.
We have so many guys tuning with us I just want to say to ALL of you - whether you are on a run, driving in your car, in the middle of a business trip, at your church, with your men’s group, or just sitting in your favorite chair at home – GOD IS ON THE MOVE in your life and YOU ARE PART OF A MOVEMENT of men who are becoming dangerous with goodness through the Spirit of Christ.
We are starting a new series called WITH GOD. So to get you ready for today’s message from God’s Word let me ask you a question…Have you ever let how you are feeling on the inside affect how you relate or connect with people on the outside? The bottom line is that all of our relationship stories are INSIDE stories. What is INSIDE of us will eventually leak out from us and into our most important relationships for better or for worse. And no feeling inside destroys relationships faster and more effectively than FEAR. Fear is powerful. Fear can be subtle. Fear wants to control your connection to God. The good news is that we all battle fear as men. The bad news is that it can ruin our connection to God. So… all I can say is … SUIT UP and prepare your spirit … it’s going to be a powerful time together.
But before we dive into to today's study … think about all the people connected to you … and realize they are fighting this same battle with their own fears… and you sharing this powerful session with your friends could make the difference in their life.
I think every man watching and listening today would agree that having a clear goal in mind gives you more focus, better energy, and a greater chance at success. No brainer right? Well did you know that God's man only needs to have one goal in mind when it comes to his relationships with God? That's right ... no matter where you are, who your with, or what circumstance you find yourself in - you just have to have one goal in mind - ready for it ? PLEASE GOD. Not always EASY - but that is what Jesus modeled and what the Bible teaches. Jesus lived to please God...Jesus lives in every believer ... and the Bible says that every true believer lives to please God more and more as they grow in Christ. This morning we are going to learn that every man has a unique assignment from God only he can fulfill and God is pleased when we finish the work God has called us to do.
We are in a powerful series called LIVE TO PLEASE. If you joined us for parts 1, 2, and 3 ... you have been challenged to follow Jesus' example and model of pleasing God. You have also learned that pleasing God is an inner thing - you please him by developing a heart and character for his purposes. Each session has been building up to today's challenging study for every God's man - pleasing God in the way connect with people. Men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck is going to remind all of us from the Bible that God's a good Father ... and all good fathers want their sons to treat others in a good way. So get ready to be stretched and inspired to seek God's will for every relationship you have. But before we dive into to today's study share this powerful session with your friends.
If you joined us for parts 1 and 2 ...you have been great clarity about what it means to have a simple and effective relationship with God - one that satisfies God and you - his son. You have also learned that pleasing God is an inner thing - delighting in, trusting in, and listening willingly to Him. We please God with our heart. In Part 3 of our series LIVE TO PLEASE, men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck is going to reveal the next area that fires God up in his relationship you ...when you please him with your character. Another way to say it is GOD is pleased when we stop acting like boys and start acting like men. And as we'll see not only is God looking for a more mature you ... so are the people around you!
We are glad you are here for this week's study and, more importantly, God is pleased! In fact, that is what we are talking about in this series called Live to Please. What we are learning is that God is way more concerned about WHY we do the things we do more than WHAT we actually do. Think about it for a second. Have you ever said or done good things on the outside but for the wrong reasons on the inside? Oftentimes as men we want others to think about us a certain way and in order to achieve that goal we need to build an image or create a perception publicly that privately our hearts deny. Our actions are inconsistent with our real desires or real opinions. There's a word for that ...it is called acting! The relationship isn't real because it is built on misplaced or selfish motives. In Part 1 we learned from looking at Jesus' life how pleasing God works. In Part 2 we are going to look pleasing God is rooted in the heart because that is what God is examining. We are going to answer the question: when God looks at my heart what is he actually wanting to see? But before we dive into to today's study share this powerful session with your friends.
Standing In the Gap JP Jones
One transformed man can transform many things. That's what God says. In fact, he is looking for him, for them, for the ones who will "stand in the gap" for God's purposes and on behalf of others when things get hard. And if you live in today's culture as a man of God - well - things are getting harder and harder to stand out in the pressure of all the bad choices men are making and all the bad press and attention that is getting. You wouldn't be blamed for retreating in the face of all the division, strife, violence, injustice, and suffering you see. After all, you are just one man. Toward that conclusion God says: EXACTLY! I only need one and that one is you. Join Pastor and Author JP Jones for this powerful call to this generation of men and accept your call to change the culture.
Clarity is a great thing. With a clear sense of anything you see, sense, and act confidently. Without clarity there is just confusion, wasted energy, and frustration. This is especially true when it comes to man's motivation for how he lives his life. When a man knows his motivation it focuses his concentration, garners his energy, and fuels his actions. In other words, when a man has clarity on his "why" he is not shy! The Bible says that as men who claim to know and follow Jesus, our motivation is more important to God than our actions for God. In fact, God is studying the "why" that is at the center of what we do. In fact he is looking for something specific because when your motivations are pure before Him, your life is filled with His power. Invite some friends take this journey with men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck into why God's man lives the way he does. The first stop in that adventure to clearly see Jesus's own "why" when he was on earth. Welcome to part one of LIVE TO PLEASE.
Sometimes small things end up being huge things in relationships. A healthy and close connection can be ruined and replaced by distance and division by something you can't even see or hear or touch. Do you know what it is? Your attitude! That's right - people may hear your words or see the right actions but they SENSE your attitude. Did you know that just like parents often require an attitude adjustment from their children so that relationships work well in the family, God has expectations for our attitude with him and with others we are in community with. God says there is one attitude in particular he is looking for from you - do you have it? Join Pastor Kenny Luck for this powerful message on experiencing your best life in relationships with God and others. It's time for an ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT.
Today's digital culture has accelerated a very destructive human habit - it's our tendency to compare. If you don't believe that just take a look at what people post on their INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK feeds. Take a look at what you post - only your very best self, on your very best days, in your very best moments as if your post reflects your normal life. It all appears very satisfying - LOOK, LOOK... I am doing great in this great place drinking this great beverage with these great people doing great things while you stare at your screen admiring my great life. The irony is that we are winning the battle of images today while the majority of us are losing the real The hard part is that we naturally look at other men's lives and then... get ready for it... we use what we see in others lives as a measure for how we are doing - whether it's our success, our jobs, our wives, our kids performance, our looks, our possessions, or even, our spiritual commitment. The by-product of all our comparison is more discontentment and less satisfaction than ever before. Well it is safe to say THAT a life of comparison and dissatisfaction is not God's plan - especially in light of what God has done, is doing doing, and promises to do for us. THAT is the battle we are going to explore in Part 5 of Driving Forces because the Bible declares the God has defeated comparison and discontentment through our relationship with Him. But before we begin, share today's study right now with all your friends who need encouragement in their walk with God.
THE WONDERFUL UNKNOWN
Big journeys require big courage and faith. Think Columbus. Think Lewis and Clark. Think the astronauts of Apollo 11. What they all have in common is that their starting point and their finishing point required a certain tolerance of the unknown. There were so many factors they could never predict or control. And, yet, they all said "yes." In the same way, our truest identity in God calls us personally to destinations of character, growth, and challenge that are not easy to say "yes" to when God asks. In fact, even enthusiastic and committed followers who have seen God work mighty miracles in the past are vulnerable to fresh voices of fear that sabotage new journeys with God before they even begin. Know this - God is calling you forward even now. That is the direction His Kingdom goes. The question is: will we listen to the voices of fear and phone it in? Or, will we reflect on who he is and what he has promised and go forward into the wonderful unknown of his call to secure His purpose and blessing as a worshiper? This challenging message from Author and Pastor Kenny Luck is for those who are going forward into the unknown with God.
Have you ever been in a situation where you were stuck and no solution was anywhere in site? Maybe you get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere ...and your cell phone is dead. Let's turn it up a notch...imagine that you have survived a shipwreck and you are marooned on some remote island with no ability to communicate. Not a good feeling. Or how about a real world problem - human trafficking - held against your will, forced to do whatever your owner asks, with no hope of escape. In every one of those scenarios you need a REDEEMER who will is determined to get you back and pay whatever price they have to pay to find and bring you home. The Bible says that every person ever born was sold into spiritual slavery, is stuck in that condition, and there is only one way to escape that space - someone needs to buy back your eternal freedom for them. A high price must be paid for you. A personal sacrifice must be made. A determined effort must be initiated for the cause of your freedom. Who would do that for you? Why would they do it? What would it cost them? And if you accept your spiritual freedom and are redeemed from a terrible destiny...how would that change the rest of your life? These are the questions we are going to answer in Part 3 of Driving Forces...how do you live your life after being redeemed from certain death by God.
Have you ever heard a man say "That was a game-changer for me?" Maybe you have said that yourself. Looking back, something powerful happened that shaped or reshaped his perspective on a person or issue in a profound way. Ask a medal of honor "survivor" - those are the people who lived because someone else chose to sacrifice their own life save them. They are forever changed in a specific way - deep sense of responsibility to honor the sacrifice by the way they choose to live going forward. Why? Because they have been given a second chance at life. The experience has become a DRIVING FORCE in their lives. The Bible says the same thing is true in our relationship to the Lord. Specifically, God says that our experience with Him will create a powerful new energy inside of us, strong new motivations, and a bold new willingness to risk for Him.
MADE FOR MORE #4
Ask any room full of men this question: How many of you owned super hero clothes or toys growing up as a boy? What will you see? Almost every hand will be raised. Ever wonder why the Marvel and DC comic movies like Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, and Batman do so well? It’s because that little boy - the one who wants to be great, do great things, have special powers, bring justice, and defeat evil lives is still inside us. Did you know that desire inside you is out there by God? In fact, the Bible says as a Christ follower you are called to pick a fight with and defeat evil. The problem is that many of us don’t feel equipped or know exactly what to do. Well, this morning in Part 4 of Made For More pastor Kenny Luck shows us that we need to look no farther than Jesus and that every man of God can live out his real life purpose of fighting and defeating evil in real time, right now.
They are 18 inches apart. They oversee major organization. They re working every day and night for you until you die. They are mission critical to your relationships with God and people’. They have to work together. Do you know what they are? I am talking about your head and your heart - the two CEOs of your life. But sometimes even when we want things e “know” to get to the place we sense inside so we can really know it - sometimes the elevator gets stuck. The one thing that has to Make it from the head to the heart is the love of God. You have to go from knowing about it to sensing and experiencing itfor God’s uproars to be accomplished in your life.
As men, we are naturally embedded with the desire for greatness. We want to save the day and be the hero. But what what do we do if that desire and dream for greatness begins to fade? Culture and reality can slowly decay our God-given desire for greatness. Today, we want you to know that it’s not too late. When you can find your purpose and meaning in Christ, you can still find greatness.
Part 2- There is the life we expect to live. Then life has a way of bringing unscripted things into our lives that were never a part of our plan. At Every Man we know that some of you out know exactly what I am talking about. You didn’t plan to lose a family member. You didn’t expect to have a health issue that sidelined you. You didn’t expect to be single again. When unplanned thing interrupt our lives it is easy to feel like our purpose in God is also sidelined. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, in part 2 of this series - made for more - you are going to hear how to experience God’s dream and intention for your life in the presence of adversity NOT in the absence of it. But before we get started you might want to share this livestream right now - especially to help anyone you know who is going through an “unscripted” season of difficulty.
Jesus made an audacious claim regarding anyone who believed in him. He said "whoever believes" ... "will do" the things he did and "even greater things" than he did. A normal response to that would be... Really? Was he serious? What does it look like? And, perhaps most importantly... am I accountable for that? As we will see in today's study the answer to that question is YES. Just like a farmer who plants a fruit tree expects for that tree to yield what it is designed to produce, when you are planted in Christ there is fruit God expects to see. In today's study men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck is going to explore a powerful moment in the lives of the disciples that would both disrupt and sharpen how they saw their present and future relationship with him.
Session 5 - OBEY ANYWAYS
Over the last four sessions we have been coming to face to face with the reality that the life of following Jesus involves a tension. It's the pressure of feelings pushing against the purposes of our faith. It's what we see in our circumstances versus the unseen purposes of God being worked out in the midst of those circumstances. It's culture trying to tell us what a man is and how he should act and Jesus' example and call upon our lives to be like him. In no area of spiritual life is this battle more deeply felt than in the area of our WILL versus God's WILL in a moment. Crossing the line into relationship with Jesus involves new choices to love God and love people and sometimes those choices are HARD! Maybe that is exactly where you are at right now with a relationship, a temptation, a work situation, or a clear moral dilemma. Like Jesus in the Garden before He went to the cross, we will all have times when we confront God's will and not want to do it. But also like Jesus, every man of God will be called to say what Jesus said in that moment and obey anyways: "Yet not my will be done but your will be done." In the moment, like Jesus, it might get worse before it gets better. But all men who follow Jesus know - the price we pay is worth the prize and, obeying anyways, is how we honor Jesus' sacrifice for us.
The Different World of Generosity
When it comes to the topic of generosity most people's thoughts track toward the financial dimension. In contrast to this natural response, the Bible says that when a Christian hears the word "generosity" there thoughts should naturally gravitate toward God - the one who is described in the Bible as the "one who will withhold no good thing" and who, in Christ, lavishes his grace on us. An experience like that with a generous God should make believers in Jesus the most generous of all groups. At least you would think so. In this powerful message on the nature of God and how his nature is purposed to become our own, Pastor Kenny Luck takes on the issue of selfishness versus generosity on all levels (including financial) by attacking the root cause - a failed view of God. Money is NOT the issue when it comes to your own ability to be generous as much as you're thinking about it. If you want to think better about the giving of your resources, listen to and share this message with every Christian you know.
Not sure if you have noticed but around the world masculinity is under attack because men who have been given responsibility, power, and influence and are using it selfishly causing others to suffer versus using their strength to serve others. Against this dark backdrop in culture, Jesus is calling for a new movement of men to rise. Men who know how to go against the culture and their impulses to serve others versus make them suffer. What we want you to know here at Every Man is that if you are a follower of Jesus Christ - no matter where you live in the world or what your specific situation is - that man is you! God wants sons who think, live, and act like his Son. And his Son said, "The son of man did not come to be served but to serve."
In part 1 and 2 of this series we have been learning that faith in Jesus means that you will be going against how you feel, what you see happening, or the "consensus" opinion in order to realize God's purpose and experience God's power. Today's explores the challenge of being called to love others the way Jesus has loved you. I think we can all agree that this is easier said than done, especially if you have had no models in your life. Every man wants great connections with the people in his life but we need help - Jesus' help - to pull that off. The good news is that your relationship with Jesus already has provided all you need to meet the challenge of loving others when it's not convenient, comfortable, or feels fair.
All of us, at one time, were little men. And the odds are that when you were a toddler - you probably wore your feelings on your sleeve. That's what we expect from toddlers. They flop on the ground. Have tantrums. They listen to their impulses. Got the picture? Their emotional "filter" is not yet developed. So why take you back in time? Here's why. We expect impulse in a child but - in a man - it is disastrous. Men are supposed to be able to put feelings in their proper place to lead, serve, and love others under pressure of being selfish. When they can't others in their lives will suffer. That's why we are starting a new series today called DO IT ANYWAYS because, when the pressure is on, your choices in any given moment will make or break your relationships with God and people.
The theme for Part Four of Maximum Faith is "Going the Distance." Versus what? Coming short, giving up, or quitting in the middle because things got hard. Ultimate faith is always willing to pay the ultimate price. No man in history modeled this like Jesus Christ. When his feelings were pulling hard his faith pulled back harder and triumphed. In watching Jesus go the distance for us we see a real man with real reservations and concerns but facing them all with honesty, humility and the heart of a lion - fearless in God's purpose. On the other side of his maximum trust in the Father's commission and command is our salvation and transformation. That would never have happened if a man - in a moment - decided he would go the distance to his death because God asked him. Men filled with Christ Spirit will be willing to do the same and, on the other side of those decisions, are changed lives and God's glory.
The theme for Part 3 of Maximum faith is "you gotta believe." At some point, beliefs about God are expressed in the open as actions for God. Call it what you want: the proof in the pudding, the rubber hitting the road, or - for our purposes - where faith actually begins. Words about God are not the same as actions which express true trust in God - we know the difference but more importantly God knows the difference and is waiting to see it and move in response. It happens when there is no obvious reason to believe but we believe and act anyway because we know God's capacity and character. Either God's real or He is not. Either He can or He can't. Either He said he would or He didn't. This is the rare black and white thinking of Abraham's faith in the midst of impossible circumstances. He didn't waiver - and neither did God.
The theme of Part Two of Maximum Faith was "God's Bigger." When God demands our trust and calls us forward in faith, he says we do so with the assurance and confidence that His personal power and presence are WITH US. When God makes a promise like that we risk more trust and take more actions in faith versus retreat. In fact, because God has made that promise to us he puts his men into situations where can actually trust it. Those are the times God calls us out of our comfort zone and into the "faith zone." Moses was called out of his comfort zone by God and battled to reach the faith zone. Eventually, he crossed over into maximum faith but how did he get there? God declared in each moment of doubt that he was BIGGER than the "obstacles" Moses was facing in his mind.
Part One
Many times a man doesn’t know what he is capable of until someone pushes him. A coach, a mentor, or a friend says “you could do even more” or “you could beat that number” or, more personally, “that’s not your very best and you know it.” Most men sell themselves short, or worse, play it safe because they have fallen into a mindset and routine where nobody challenges them or pulls more out of them. The sad irony is that the gain in performance was there all along – it was simply left unrecognized and untapped. That’s the main theme of this series for men called MAXIMUM FAITH – God sees more underneath your current faith expression and is calling it out. More importantly, there are people connected to your life waiting for you to live it out. Prepare yourself to be challenged in the best way this morning from God’s Word.
4 - Moral Conflicts
Hey guys it’s Jeremy and I want to welcome you to this morning’s worldwide live stream study. If you pay attention to the news at all you see very well-known or famous people making decisions as adults that make you scratch your head and say why did they do that? People who seem to have it all-beautiful wife, a great job, lots of money in the bank, and if they are super blessed, perhaps a wonderful family to complete the picture. But then they make a decision that causes them to lose it all and we all scratch our heads and say why did he do that? Why do you risk losing all those blessings with one bad moral decision? Every day we are given the chance to do the right thing or the wrong thing but what we do in the moment reveals our morality. Inner moral conflicts in the choices we make in the midst of them-like the other conflicts we have discussed in the series-will either bring us closer in our relationships or Terissa part. Before we dive into this topic let me encourage you to share this lifestream with your friends right now-it could possibly save them from a terrible decision they are about to make.
3 - Spiritual Conflicts
How many of you enjoy being told how to live, what to do, where you can go, and when you have to say no or yes? It’s not a trick question and the answer is not tricky either. The Bible says that every man is at war inside over which voice will control his actions - his voice - his conscience or his conscience & God. Let’s face it - no man likes to surrender control of his choices to anyone. And yet that’s exactly what God asks us to do - surrender control of how we think and live to His way. Sound like battle of wills? Feel like a battle of wills? Welcome to our topic for part three of the CORE conflicts series - spiritual conflict. In today’s study pastor in men’s expert Kenny Luck is going to explore the whole issue of who is in charge, the battle for control, and disciplining yourself to surrender to God’s authority.
2 - Emotional Conflicts
Hey guys - it’s Jeremy - thanks for joining the EveryMan worldwide live stream study. To get us ready for this morning study let me ask you a question: “Have you ever made an emotional decision in the moment that you ended up regretting?“ You were angry and said words. You were afraid and you acted too early. You were alone and sad and chose to make yourself feel better in an unhealthy way. Did you know there are over 120 negative emotions a man can feel that can create inner conflicts? What do you with them? Where do you go with them? How do you respond to feelings inside you can’t stop from coming up? We are going to answer these and other questions in Part II of this series - CORE CONFLICTS . In Part I we dealt with Relational Conflicts - in Part II PASTOR and men’s expert Kenny Luck is going to unpack what the Bible says about our Emotional battles inside as men.
We spend a lot of energy as human beings trying to avoid, minimize, or escape conflict and the pressures that come with it. Good luck. The Bible promises conflict in our broken world and how we respond to it reveals who we really are and what we really believe. The Bible teaches that inner conflicts, while unwelcome, are loaded with God’s purpose and blessing. In fact, when a man wins the inner battles of life he will win more intimacy and closeness with God and people.
Part 4 – Jesus v Posers
Have you ever experienced this before? A Christian with good intentions ends up doing more harm than good with the very people he is trying to influence for his faith by acting overly religious. Have you ever bumped into one of those people? They look goofy. They act goofy. They become goofy. And there’s nothing goofier than a goofy Christian. Well, in today’s study we are going to see Jesus confront dysfunctional, judgmental, and goofy spirituality. We are going to watch God himself confront men who claimed to represent God pushing people far away from God. More specifically, we are going to see Jesus define synthetic and shallow religion and show us the way toward an authentic and resonating faith. The goal you say? More Jesus and less religion.
Part 3 – David v Saul
Taking responsibility is a sign of maturity. Avoiding responsibility - well – that’s the stuff of boys. In fact, you probably remember your parents or a teacher or coach putting you in a corner at some point in your life and saying, “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?” The first two Kings of Israel were men just like us – their names were David and Saul. One man is famously referred as the “man after God’s own heart” and Israel’s greatest warrior, king, and poet. The other man is better known as the guy who lost his job as the leader of God’s people. Both of these men made terrible mistakes as men put into a leadership position by God (which is comforting to know). But why did only one of these men lose favor with God in the midst of his mistake while the other gained favor with God in the midst of his? That’s something every believing man should want to know!
Part 2 – Samson v Samuel
Have you ever heard the expression “living a parallel life?” It’s when two people living in different spaces are experiencing the same things in their lives. This is the story of Samson and Samuel in the Bible. From their miraculous births to their divine callings to their eventual positions of influence, these two guys are living “parallel lives” within God’s community. But like many men today who live within the community of faith, our public identity often conflicts with our private demons and realities. The flesh is at war with the Spirit. Our old nature is at war with our new nature. Our identity in Christ calls for integrity of actions. These are battles Samson and Samuel fought and so will you.
MORE OF THAT! PART 1 – CAIN AND ABEL
Every man likes to hear the words “you did good” – especially from people we respect or love or are hoping to please. Clear expressions of approval are appreciated because they take some of the guesswork out of the relationship. How about when it comes to your relationship with God? The good news is that God’s Word is filled with stories of men to whom God said, “YOU DID GOOD – YES - MORE OF THAT!” letting them know He was pleased by how they thought and what they did. The Bible also says those moments in time happened and were passed down to us so that we could see God’s heart and connect with him more meaningfully. Those examples telegraph the precise thinking, motives and behaviors that bring him joy. That’s what this series is all about – seeing God speak into the lives of men seeking a relationship with him and saying very clearly “THAT’S IT DUDE – YOU GOT IT – LOVE IT … MORE OF THAT!” You are going to want to pay close attention to each message in this series as encounter men just like us who modeled for us how to bring God joy as his sons.
5 ”My Disciple Is Loyal to Me Alone” When we say that a man has a “higher allegiance,” to anything we usually mean that when push comes to shove … he will choose THAT over any competing priority or person. Think work. Think hobbies. Think about a an important relationship.…
Hey guys – it’s Jeremy – thanks for joining the Every Man Livestream Study. Just this past week a gentlemen in Japan paid 3 million dollars for a rare, 615 pound blue fin tuna. That doesn’t make very much sense for most of us but when you get past the headline and find out that this man is the President of a Japanese Sushi Restaurant chain it starts to make more sense. Clearly this man – because of who he is – is willing to pay a very high for what he values the most. Personal value determines personal price we are willing to pay. If it is important to us, the price is worth the prize. – we sacrifice for what we value. Did you know that Jesus says the same thing is true about his disciples? He says that if we place a high value on our relationship with him – no cost we pay to follow him is too high nor is any sacrifice too great. He says that the price we are willing to pay reveals the person we really are. That’s how he knows there is a true connection.
3 – MY DISCIPLE PRODUCES MUCH FRUIT
Hey guys – Jeremy here – thanks for joining the Every Man Livestream Study. I am greeting from California – home to one the richest fruit producing regions in the world. In fact, California is often called the land of fruits and nuts – and I am not talking about the people – I am talking about literal fruits and nuts. It may seem silly but if I asked you, what kind of fruit does an apple tree produce? You would laugh at me and say, “Apples dummy!” We can answer that question so quickly and confidently for one reason – the fruit always reflects the nature of the tree. Another way of saying it is that the fruit always reflects the source. When Jesus talks about his disciples he describes them “branches” built to produce a certain kind of fruit that reflects the nature of Himself - the source. That’s how he knows there is a true connection.
2 - MY DISCIPLE LOVES PEOPLE
Hey guys – it’s your host Jeremy – thanks for being a part of the Every Man Livestream Study. Today’s study is going to be highlighting the fact that - who we really are eventually comes out in our relationships. I think we can all agree that that can be a good thing or… a bad thing. For most men, it’s fair to say that relationships represent his greatest challenge, his greatest source of regret OR his highest sense of achievement and satisfaction. How do we know? Because millions of men are turning to Every Man resources, podcasts, curriculums on one topic more than ANY OTHER - realtionships. Whether he admits it or not – every man knows… if he is not doing relationships right he is not doing life right. If you believe that then I am glad you are with us because in today’s study Jesus says that being his disciple has an expected and positive consequence for everyone connected to you – they will feel more loved.
Watch the video at www.everymanministries.com
1 – MY DISCIPLE HOLDS TO MY TEACHING
Hey guys – it’s Jeremy – thanks for being a part of the Every Man Livestream Study. Have you ever said to yourself, “Is that guy a Christian?” Maybe we see them behaving a certain way or doing something that raises the question in our minds. When someone makes a claim, there is a natural expectation we place on people once they make it. But how do we know if a person is the REAL DEAL…a real friend…a real follower…a real disciple of Jesus? As we will see in today’s study, the question shouldn’t be “How do we know?” Rather, the question should be: “How does Jesus know?” In the Bible Jesus provides a clear picture of a true disciple or follower. In fact, that is what this new four-part series called “MY DISCIPLE” is all about. We are going to look at the statements Jesus makes about anyone claiming a true connection to him. Now let’s join men’s expert and Pastor Kenny Luck from Crossline Church in Laguna Hills California for Part 1 of this powerful series and learn how a true disciple is a man who HOLDS ON to Jesus’ words.
God says there is a next level for you - a whole other gear of life, living, relationship, and character this next year. Will you settle? Or, will you experience the personal and powerful breakthroughs he has planned for you in Christ? Take the challenge from men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck to have a breakthrough year full of power.
Every Man has a testimony waiting to come out. When a man makes a decision for Christ he gives thanks by telling the world what God has delivered them from.
The Testimony Series is coming soon and you can only see it on www.everymanministries.com so sign up today and get ready to be moved.
Part 4 - Ground Zero: When Healthy Legacy Explodes
In our culture today we make much of our celebrities – they are super visible people who have massive followings. But I think you would agree that there is big difference between a hero and a celebrity.
- Celebrities are known for their name being known.
- Heroes – on the other hand – are known for thinking of someone else.
- Celebrities make history through visibility.
- Heroes make history through character qualities.
- Celebrities show how it’s possible for a man to be famous.
- Heroes how its possible for a man to be good.
As time passes, it usually dissolves the legacies of most celebrities. For heroes on the other hand, as time passess, it creates space for people to think about them, and it elevates their value into a positive legacy. The Bible is full of “unsung heroes” who didn’t get the recognition at the time but they are remembered and revered today their as their legacies of being dangerous with goodness exploded over time. History and heaven sing the songs of these unsung heroes – those men who chose to love God and people when no one was looking. Will that be you?
Part 3 - Ground Zero: When Healthy Morality Explodes
You might have heard the famous statement: “If we don’t stand for something we will fall for anything?” The idea is simple: weak convictions lead to a weak morality among men which leads to weak beliefs and behaviors. I don’t know about you but I think the world is pretty fed up with men who have a weak or selfish morality. On the other hand, we respect men who believe their beliefs and live them out – even if they differ from our own. What all people connected to men hope is that they have a set of beliefs that good and will be life giving. But where do find the right morals as men and what does it look like when they explode outward and onto those around us? I want to know the answer to that but more importantly a waiting world is ready for that! That’s what we are going to study in God’s word this morning with men’s expert and Pastor Kenny Luck live from Laguna Hills, CA in Part 3 of our series GROUND ZERO: When Healthy Morality Explodes
ACCELERATING FAST ... into a powerful and world changing 2019 because of you. Acceleration is the story of this past year heading into next year. Only hard work and team work with you placed in God's hands creates momentum. And when you have it you need to work it. That's why Every Man is launching "A MILLION FOR A MILLION" right now to change masculinity for God and good. Come with us.
Part 2 - Ground Zero: When Healthy Community Explodes
I think you’ll agree that when a few men get together – all it takes is one bad idea for dangerous stuff to start going down. Am I right? But did you know that in the exact same way, when good men combine all it takes is courage and conviction to do the right thing for some serious good take place. History tells the stories of generations of men who identified with, energized, and lived out the best and worst of ideas as small bands of men and - sometimes – those gatherings turned into revolutions of history. So, what about this generation of men? There are some questions we need to ask ourselves like: * Who are we intentionally gathering with? * What convictions or beliefs rally our energy? * What impact positive or negative will we be known for because of our connections with each other? * When and how does HEALTHY men’s community explode and create a POSITIVE blast zone of impact? Let’s join men’s expert and Pastor Kenny Luck live from Crossline Church in Laguna Hills, CA for Part 2 of GROUND ZERO.
Ground Zero #1
By the looks of it, emotionally grown up, spiritually strong, and relationally committed men are in high demand but low supply. In a world scrambling for solutions to the chaos, dysfunction, injustices and related pain in today's cities and communities, it is equally clear that the ills before us will not be solved politically, economically, or by a gender grab for power and position. What would happen if a new wave of masculinity for others took root? A masculinity that focused less on self and more on the needs of others around them? A masculinity that recognized it's accountability to and trajectory toward eternity? What would that look like? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck as he paints this exact picture ripped from the pages of history as a basis for a new movement masculinity that is dangerous with goodness.
Traumas in our lives can redefine us or redeem us. What happens depends on what we allow to shape our thoughts and actions in the midst - not in the absence of - adversity. God's plan is for you to rise above and soar above your challenges not let them define you.
A study of the book of Ephesians, along with 5 powerful testimonies. Together, we look into what things are truly worth fighting for.
Each Day Part 5 - Walk in Pride or Walk in Humility
We all know unhealthy pride when we see it - the message is: thanks but no thanks. When you run into a prideful person they act like they know better than you or are even worse - that they are better than you! We also know humility when we see it right? Men who who possess greatness but don't use it to their advantage or make you feel less than them. It makes us respect them even more? Pride and humility are HUGE themes in the Bible and for good reason. One destroys your relationship with God and the other makes it work the way it was intended. That's what Part 5 of the Each Day series is about today - each day we have a choice - to walk in pride or walk in humility. Now let's join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this morning's study.
Being a taker is easy. Being a giver requires inner resources we don't always have. Jesus made this issue of giving and taking as a man a defining feature for those who followed him. Men who did not follow him were free to be takers but men called themselves by his name were free to be givers - saying no to themselves in order to say yes to others. Jesus modeled exactly what he expects and in Part 4 of the Each Day series men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck breaks down what being a giver means by looking at Jesus - the ultimate gift and giver.
Worth Fighting For Series Description
A study of the book of Ephesians, along with 5 powerful testimonies. Together, we look into what things are truly worth fighting for.
Each Day Part 3
A parent sees and senses when their child is not listening to them. A wife sees and senses when her husband hears what she is saying but isn’t going to change his behavior or take action. A coach sees and senses when a player is not taking his direction in the game. God sees and senses when WE are listening to him or ignoring him. Each day we have a choice. Join us for Part 3 of the Each Day Series as men’s expert and pastor Kenny Luck explores what the Bible says about how to listen to God more and analyze his direction less on a DAILY basis.
Ever noticed that it is easy to thank God when life is good? But somehow when we are faced with challenges - the gratitude stops and the grumbling starts - especially the longer our expectations go unmet. But how do you do that? How do we affirm God's goodness in the middle of our cancer, getting fired, losing a relationship, or a dream dying. In today's study, you are going to see what happens when God's people grumble and, on the other side, how gratitude in the midst of challenges pleases God and will transform your life. It's your choice. Let's Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for Part 2 of our series "Each Day."
In relationships remembering another person is synonymous with caring for another person. Think about when someone thoughtfully remembers you when you are apart and shows up and says, "I was thinking of you and thought you would appreciate this." The Lord is a person and He says that He loves to be remembered not forgotten. When we forget the Lord there are consequences. When we discipline ourselves to remember him there are rich, blessings. Each day we make that choice.
See Joe Champion Senior Pastor of Celebration Church in Austin Tx speak to the men at their annual Calibrate Conference.
If you are battling something within that is affecting your relationships with God and people join our community of men & women seeking FREEDOM through Christ. This specific weekend is for all who struggle. I am praying for you and will pray over you.
We talk about what we are excited about. This is the bottom line about your truest passions and interests. We talk about a wonderful woman in our life. We talk about the cool new thing we just bought or invested in. We talk about and share a great new song we just heard. We talk about a new show we love on Netflix. We talk about and recommend a restaurant that serves amazing dishes. Everyone evangelizes the things they love. Why? We want to share the goodness. It follows that if we really love Jesus we talk about him - not in a weird way but in the same natural way we talk about other things we love. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this challenging session and SEE WHAT HAPPENS when you give God's love away. Let the supernatural love of God be a super "natural" thing you talk about and share.
Seeing the right thing to do or a good direction to go is one thing. Making our peace with the discomfort associated with moving toward it is another. In our spiritual journey God he will bring every man to a crossroads of faith or fear and ask him one thing - are you going to trust me? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for Part II of this challenging series: See What Happens - When You Trust the Lord.
The truest thing about you is what God says is true. God's Word is truer than how we feel and truer than what we see. Jesus said when we know (believe and act upon) the truth, then the truth will set us free.
The Truest Thing by special guest JP Jones Founder & Senior Pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, Ca.
Usually a good discipline brings a good result. Not being disciplined usually brings a negative result. Work out physically, your health improves. Make sales calls, get more clients in the pipeline. You get the picture. Discipline yourself around making choices to love God and people, God's plan and purposes come about in your life. Choose not to be disciplined in this way, then what? Evil starts to have its way. That's the focus of this final session in our STRONG D series. We are going to answer the question: Why does Satan love a spiritually undisciplined man?
When men internalize the reality that they have limited time, an unknown ending, and a scheduled meeting with their Maker, it creates a certain energy and focus. The gravity of presenting an undisciplined life to God after your heart stops is a healthy and driving force of healthy spiritual discipline. Your spiritual life right now reflects your personal view of eternity. It's time to connect the two with men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck in Part 3 STRONG "D."
When you discipline yourself to save money you are freer when you spend it. When you discipline yourself to physically train you are freer to say yes to run a race or challenge yourself physically. What happens you discipline yourself in knowing Christ? How does that make you free as a man and follower? Join men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck to learn why a disciplined commitment to Jesus is the best path to freedom and healthy masculinity.
A spiritual life requires strong "D" - which stands for discipline. The difference between what we ought to do and actually do, between good intentions and good actions reflects the level of self discipline you have or the ability bring your energy under control for perceived higher purpose. If you love Jesus and are called to his higher purposes you are going to need some STRONG "D." Get ready to sweat.
Listen to Kenny Luck on "The Meeting House" radio program with Bob Crittenden. On July 3rd, 2018 Kenny dives into his book "Dangerous Good" with Crittenden and discusses why his book is so important for men in these times.
"Who is my neighbor?" Important question because we are called to love that person by Christ. But in today's culture we publicly and privately pre-judge and pre-qualify people for a variety of self serving reasons before we help them that enable us to just walk by. Jesus teaches the opposite and challenges all of his followers to enter the lives of others inspite of how they might offend our sensibilities because that's what he did with you! This concluding session of the Second Mile is not for the timid as men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck concludes this study of the Jesus' powerful message on authentic faith
Self-control. What comes to mind? Your mouth? Your eyes? Your mind? Chocolate? Alcohol? Anger? A man's ability to intercept the communication between his senses and his mind separates the men from the boys. Unfortunately, grown men having been acting like boys for centuries and it is confusing to those we love and a watching world. Our dilemma is: how do you go from out of control to self control? In part three of The Second Mile men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck what self control in God involves and what steps to take to experience it.
Following Jesus means going the 2nd mile-in every area of your life. In part two of this series, men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck discusses what it means to go the 2nd mile in your relationships and more specifically, how you handle conflict.
When someone goes the extra mile it means they have surprised, shocked, or served us in an unexpected way. They stand out and are remembered. That is the life Christ calls us to live to advance His cause on earth. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for this leadership series exploring The Second Mile.
When you know something great or someone great is going to come into your life you hope you will be ready. Jesus said He is coming at a moment in time with His Kingdom. The question is: are you ready right now? Join men's expert and pastor kenny luck to improve your state of readiness and excitement For the King and His coming.
Due to technical difficulties this podcast of Kingdom Come Part 3 is audio only. You can see the video on our vimeo page at www.vimeo.com/everymanministries
The Kingdom of God is an active reality. But how do we know this active reality and realm is "coming" upon us personally? What will others see? How will I know? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for these answers and more in Session 2 of Kingdom Come.
It's real. It's right now. It's unseen. It's advancing all around you. It's called the Kingdom of God and it takes over every man it touches if he calls it down from heaven. Will you be a Kingdom Man? Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck as he unpacks the reality to which we really belong.
Why is it that we have so many "friends" and "likes" yet all of this social connection isn't helping us become better people? Even with people we actually see and interact with there is a surface level connection but not a deep level of impact? The Bible says that real, authentic friendships are life-changing and personally transformative. If life in God requires change in God, then your friendships are going to change dramatically. Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck as he explores the idea of high-performance friendships.
UNRESOLVED EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE IN MEN MAKES LIFE HARD FOR EVERYBODY. When we cannot explain the root causes of our thoughts and behaviors that bring harm to our relationships with God and people it's "time." More specifically, it's time to do a "baggage check." Only the bravest men "go there." Join men's expert and pastor Kenny Luck for Part IV of the new men's series DIFFERENT this week.
Kenny Luck and Anthony Dever interview of Jeff Struecker discussing the heroic events that took place in the battle of Mogadishu.
In the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, Jeff Struecker was a 24-year-old sergeant and squad leader assigned to Task Force Ranger as a part of the 75th Ranger Regimen. He led the 3-vehicle convoy that returned, through intense fire, wounded Ranger Pvt. Todd Blackburn to base.
His story was portrayed in the blockbuster movie BLACK HAWK DOWN. He is the author of The Road To Unafraid: How the Army’s Top Ranger Faced Fear and Found Courage through Black Hawk Down and Beyond.
The #1 complaint about men by the women connected to us speaks to our emotional maturity. Let's be honest - it is frustrating to be married to a 35 year old 13 year old or a 45 year old 14 year old. It is impossible for a man to spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. We are talking about emotional maturity. Smart men who care about their relationships discipline themselves to emotionally but the process takes humility and faith. God wants a grown man on the inside not just in the outside. Join Pastor Kenny Luck for Part 3 of DIFFERENT.
Letting go of the old to win the new always begins with a thought. New behaviors in any area of our lives always reflect new beliefs about those areas. We exchange the stale and stagnant perspectives that leave us the same for newer ones that get us better results. Join pastor and men’s expert Kenny Luck as he explores why, in the battle for change, your mind is going to make the difference and then gives powerful tools to make sure you win the war to be DIFFERENT
Are you the same person you were a year ago? Life in God demands change in God. He calls all of us to become DIFFERENT.
Pressure reveals substance. What's inside comes out in the fire of adversity. The question Tested Tough will answer in this session is this: "When faith is tested what exactly is God looking for in me and what does he want others to see? What makes a follower of Christ the "real deal" in God's eyes? " You might be surprised at the answer but not surprised at the simplicity and power of it. Are you ready to take the real deal test?
“This is how you walk with God. You don’t focus on your limited abilities. You focus on God’s unlimited abilities. You let Him be who He says He is. You let Him be God in your life. And if He asks you to jump into the unknown, you’re going to jump into the unknown. That’s the plan of God. You’re going to take the initiative in God’s power and you’re going to leave the results to Him.”
“There is this envisioning process that when God calls us to do something, there is what we expect to happen but what God does not expect to happen. The supernatural invades the natural. Because the natural says, if I walk through fire, I’m going to get singed. But God clearly is saying, ‘No, you’re mine. This is going to be a different experience if I’m doing the asking.”
To be Christ's leader in the world, we have to surrender to Christ's same process - we must embrace tests of faith and courage. In Part 3 of TESTED TOUGH we are reminded that when we choose God's process we become like Christ. When we reject God's process we become something less - less of a man and more like a boy. The world is desperate for strong men with strong character forged in the crucible of adversity. Don't despair if you are suffering. God is making a man.
“‘The Kingdom of God is advancing forcefully and forceful men lay hold of it.’ You know what the world is looking for? A movement worldwide of spirit empowered and forceful men. Not forceful, negative, judgmental men. But men who are forceful in how they love. Men who are forceful in their faith. Men who are who they say they are.”
“When you suffer for the name of Christ, you’re never closer to Christ. When you sacrifice acceptance of men over acceptance from God, you’re never closer to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus suffered the rejection of men for the acceptance of God.”
“And the Bible says that when you fear men over God, it’s a trap. It’s a snare. Why? Because you’re denying who you really are. You’re saying no to God and yes to fear and in the process, you’re putting man in God’s place. Because only God brings justice.”
“You see how your obedience in the midst of your pain has incredible impact? But at the moment, many of you are just like saying, you know what though, I don’t feel like being obedient right now. I’m really thinking hard about to just go dive into sin. To go do something stupid. Can I just advise you brother? Just press the pause button. Because that’s just your emotions talking.”
“Isn’t it interesting when we find ourselves in the middle of great pain and great anguish that God wants to bless us and give us favor, and do things that actually encourage us and speak to us? But you know, sometimes He’s gotta put us in those places to show us who He is. Because in our comfort we don’t see him.”
“If you have any doubt about his faithfulness to you in the midst of your pain. All you have to do is sit at the foot of the cross where his own son went through the pain. And Jesus cried out, ‘My God, my God why have you forsaken me?’ And he went there to ‘into your hands I commit my spirit’.”
“Jesus prays committing himself to God in death. And guess what, he’s not going to be delivered from the coming pain. In fact, he’s gonna have to go through the pain in order to secure your salvation and the forgiveness of sin and defeat hell and death.”
“Men are proud. Men are self-reliant. They are trained not to talk about anything that is gong on that might demonstrate or show a weakness in the midst of pain. And you know, I just look at myself in the mirror and just go, ‘Hey, I’m resourceful. I can get through this. I don’t need to talk to anybody about that. I’m going to pull myself up by my bootstraps’.”
“I cannot help you carry your burden unless you tell me what it is. But you have to tell me what it is. A lot of you are here and you live so unconfessed and unknown and you walk around with your burden. Alright. When God never intended you to do that.”
“One of the greatest, powerful dynamics of behavioral change is prayer. Prayer changes your heart. If you want to change the way that you behave, start talking to God about your life. Because when you start talking to God, God starts talking back.”
Pressure reveals substance. Heat and pressure reveal what something is made and also transforms it into something different. Think gold - heat purifies and makes it more valuable. The same is true for every man of God - we are tested and that testing reveals what we really believe and if we will really believe it. Don't run! Pass the test. Bring glory to God.
“People say, ‘how’s it going?’ ‘ It’s all good’. ‘How ya doing?’ ‘Fine.’ Fine is the most abused word in the English language. Because things aren’t fine all the time. We don’t want to be perceived as a struggler, because in the Christian life we’re called to be a what? A victor.”
“Rich and poor have nothing to do with meeting need. For all are in need. And the man of God is supposed to recognize that Jesus is waiting behind that face. And some of you say, ‘Gosh, I really don’t see Jesus. I don’t connect with him. I don’t feel him.’ Want to know why? Because you never risked entering the needs of another person without expecting something back or to advance your agenda.”
“When you get into the lives of others, it is a sign to the whole world that you are operating under a higher authority. And the world goes back and goes (gasp) what in the world got into that guy? It is called a witness. Look at me. You follow a king who serves.”
“It’s like man to want to be served. It’s like the Son of Man to serve. It’s like the sons of the King to serve. It’s the way to be. It’s what we do. It’s who we are. That when need comes into our zone of influence and we see it and we are the ones who are faced with it, we enter need to serve.
“When we carry another man’s burdens, we are fulfilling the law of Christ. If I want to fulfill God’s will in my life, if I want to fulfill the law of Christ, I need to come alongside my brother. But you’re gonna have to overcome the training of culture, your own issues to help another man.”
You are alive at this time in history. You are placed in a specific part of the planet. You are given a unique set of family, work, and social connections. You are connected to God and His purposes. You have limited time, an unknown ending, and a scheduled debrief. The only question left is - will you fulfill your Kingdom mission God has assigned for you and show up in the lives of others.
Every man of God is called into the service of the Kingdom of God. That someone is YOU.
Part 2 of "THAT SOMEONE IS YOU" study with Pastor Kenny Luck
Broadcast Date 2/15/2018
“And if you give a man something to exchange his sights- something bigger, something other than just his problems to focus on, he’ll be going (Crying)… oh… and that’s eternity.
“Broken masculinity is being exposed like you’ve never seen. This is a golden opportunity for a third wave- not broken Alpha male who serves himself and not soft Omega male who doesn’t know what strength is. The world is looking for a movement of men who are for God and who are for others.”
“Fear God, don’t fear man. Fear God, don’t fear circumstances. Are you crazy? You’re not going to stand before your past circumstances that never happened when you die. You’re not going to stand stand before your friends that you backed off from sharing who really are in Christ. They’re not going to be before you; God’s going to be before you.”
“A lot of us live in the subsonic space of the Christian life. And we kind of get to this barrier because we just don’t know what’s on the other side. God has called you to live a life of power, a life under his lordship, and a life in authority and that is the place you want to be. The devil fears a movement of God’s men who live at mach 1 loyalty.”
“Some of you are listening to me and you’re like, ‘I don’t know if I can trust Jesus Christ. I don’t know if I can put my faith in him that way. I don’t know if I can surrender all.’ You know who I can surrender to? A guy who surrendered all. I can surrender to a guy who surrendered all. You can trust him. God’s with you. The LORD is with us.”
“There was a life that you thought that you intended to live. There was a dream that you thought that you would realize. And then all of the sudden, there’s an interruption that you didn’t count on. And a lot of times we listen to those voices that say, ‘ah, why bother?’ And then Jesus would want to say to all of us, ‘Don’t be Afraid. Just Believe.’ Because with God, all things are possible.”
“And then, when God begins making you like Christ in your character, your conduct begins to change and if you’re a follower of Jesus, wherever you are, the Holy Spirit is. Because the Holy Spirit lives in you. And wherever the Holy Spirit is there is a mission to set people free.”
“A man who knows when he looks in the mirror that he is imperfect and flawed and makes mistakes and all of those flaws and mistakes have been swallowed up by eternal love and grace is a man who should give away more love and grace.”
We look around at a broken, messed up world and we lament at the suffering we see. God looks at it too, feels it too, and has someone perfectly placed who can make a difference. That someone is YOU.
“When I’m secure in God and I’m building that relationship, it doesn’t matter what church I go to or how much money I make, if I live or die. In Christ, I am a citizen of heaven, I have sonship, and total acceptance and that reality frees me to love people in my life more aggressively and sacrificially.”
“Without power acceptance, you can’t have a powerful identity. And without a powerful identity, you are vulnerable to powerful insecurities. The opposite is true. If you have powerful inner acceptance what emerges from that powerful acceptance is a powerful identity that produces a powerful inner security which creates a strong person.”
“You don’t have to be Tiger Woods to be successful. And you can be successful if you are living out what you truly believe. That’s what we call a man of integrity. A man who lives out and is undivided between what he believes and how he really lives and thinks. It doesn't matter if you are a Christian or a non-Christian, we say about that man, ‘at least he lives out what he believes’.”
“Can I encourage you as a man… as a follower of Jesus to stop retreating. Start risking by believing in the Gospel and what the Gospel has done in your life and what the Gospel can do in someone else’s life. Who is the last person that you shared Jesus Christ with? The way we get ready is we get about the Father’s business. We give up the world and we chase God. And we advance the Kingdom. ”
“So, let me ask you a question. Who are you serving? If we’re going to get ready by stop focusing on self and start serving others, are you serving in your first mile of service? Start with your wife. Start with your family. Are you serving them? Are you blessing them? Are you planting seeds? Do they see the character of Jesus Christ in you?”
In a family there are those who know more and are in charge and those who would do well to listen. In life there are those we seek out and listen to what they say because when we do we benefit. Life with God operates on that same common sense foundation. Because of who He is and who are we listen and obey. In fact, that is the truest sign that you know who He is and who you are. In God's family, everything good comes from LISTENING and OBEYING.
“Understand that the flow of history is the flow of “His Story”- the story of God and of man. And the only place you can get that story definitively is in this book and it’s batting a thousand. And it’s headed that way.”
“One of the most destructive cultures of men in the world are Christian men. Who have a form of godliness, but deny it’s power. They practice Las Vegas Christianity- what happens outside of church stays outside of church. And then, we lose our witness. There’s a verbal commitment, with no life commitment. Is that you? Because if it is, I wan to tell you my brother, repent.”
“When God reveals something, it’s to be received. When God reveals his son, it is to be received and integrated. And so there are two choices in the great reveal. You can accept it or you can reject it. And God’s saying ‘I’m sending my son. I want to receive you into my family. And his words are my words and if you receive him, you receive me’.”
Spiritual growth and power comes from keeping the main thing the main thing with God. Know him. Be with Him. Take in, listen to, and receive his Word. But Jesus said there will be no benefit or blessing from that without a personal connection and partnership with the Holy Spirit. This main thing is what POWERS all the others. Are you Spirit-Empowered? Listen and find out!
“Do you know what makes salvation meaningful? Persecution. Persecution is the context of salvation. When you get there, overjoyed at being there and that bond when you look at the face of the suffering servant as you yourself suffered. And you’re overjoyed in the moment that you suffered together.”
“We have to abandon this mentality that Christianity and comfort are synonymous. But you know, when Jesus called people to commit, he said, ‘Deny yourself. Pick up your cross. And follow me.’ That’s just like saying, ‘self limit, and go get your electric chair, and then come and follow me.’ It wasn’t for the wimpy.”
“Isn’t it easy when you are in the middle of a trial, a temptation, or delay, a difficulty, or a personal conflict to scenario build. And all of a sudden, you find yourself angry and bitter - versus what? Seeing the situation for what it is. Trying to reconcile and find agreement. Forgive. Release. Pray for that person and be healed.”
“I’ll tell you how to define and target a cult. They add to the Gospel. They subtract from the person of Christ. They multiply the requirements to be saved. And they divide for themselves a separate future. These deceptions, these benevolent forces that are offered to man, they are from the Devil.”
“You know what? I know who the accuser is. And he wants to exploit your own situation and your own negative feelings and he wants to take those hostage and make you a critical person and spread the misery. Versus what? Trust the LORD. Go and get his plan, and his power, and his presence towards your situation. And give away the encouragement, comfort, and acceptance that God has given you.”
God desires to have a conversation with you. The main thing in life is to be with God but when He speaks to us how does he want us to receive what he says? Join us for Part 2 of our series "The Main Things". Find out exactly what He wants your reactions to His Word He is looking for.
“Satan doesn’t want you to hear the voice of God. And if he can get you not to hear the voice of God, you can play right into his strategy. You see, to believe in Jesus Christ means consequentially and directly you believe in a personal devil who’s goal is murder.”
“When you look at the cultures of the world and you see evil dominating… the solution is not natural. The ultimate solution is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, transforming people, transforming relationships, families, identities, and through that transforming cultures.”
“Jesus did not lay down. Jesus did not have a worldview that said, ‘well everything that’s happening to me has natural causes and natural solutions’. No, Jesus said there’s a murderer, liar, thief, robber, stealer, his name is Satan and he fought him with every ounce of his energy.”
We live in a culture that makes it difficult for us to focus. Distractions, diversions, interruptions, flirtations, and powerful temptations take us off track. Success in life and success in God comes from keeping the main thing the main thing. But you have to decide to battle. Join Pastor Kenny for this powerful four part series on winning spiritual focus to win at life.
“And regardless of your understanding- whether you’re a new believer or whether you’ve known the LORD for a long time- the Bible says you need to plug into the Holy Spirit. Why? Because you can’t get the power and you can’t experience the benefits of life in Christ without Him.”
“For men, what’s easy about the spiritual life is attending church, or showing up and banging nails and doing some service project. That’s doable, it’s knowable. But this whole idea of embracing this guiding, mission critical partnership with the Holy Spirit is a process, frankly, that most men don’t pursue.”
“If people are in crisis and the world is in crisis and there are situations where people need redemption… it requires leadership. And your leadership requires your presence. Your presence requires convictions. Your convictions require character. And then your character is expressed in your contribution.”
“Now, would you say this with me? Confession is not manly. It’s Godly. You don’t look to the culture to get your cues on how you do life. You look to the Bible. And the Bible says that we confess. And that God wants us to be honest with him, honest with ourselves, and honest with others. And when we do that, that’s Godliness.”
“To be clean, I have to come clean. God will use anybody. He’ll use a cracked pot. He’ll use a jar of clay. But he does require that the jar be clean. That the vessel be clean. And the only way to get clean is to come clean. And that’s why it’s now time for aggressive confession”
“You express those convictions in real time in real situations in real relationships in front of real temptations and real opportunities to compromise and you choose to love God and love people. And every time that you choose to love God and love people every decision that you make then contributes to your intuition. Then you develop a great gut.”
“When people come to us for leadership how are we going to direct them? From what well of identity that has convictions do we give advice? We’re bad advisors if we have weak convictions. And let me tell you something, the world is in need of men who have the right convictions who give the right advice.”
“Why is Christianity being passed by the whole world? Because there is not a visual manifestation of spiritual power and aggression in God’s men. Can you imagine 300 million activated Christian men living out in the character of Christ in this world? We’d turn it upside down. Jesus needed twelve. And he’s coming. Make no mistake.”
“You have energy and God wants to use your energy. But it needs to have the right motive. If you’re God’s man, that’s your pursuit! Because to be aggressive means to pursue! What are you pursuing? You’re pursuing God’s heart first and foremost. God, who are you? What do you like? What do you dislike? What do you say is good? What do you say to avoid? What do you say to embrace?.”
“In the church, you got a bunch of Ken dolls. Do you know what you see when you pull the pants down on a Ken doll? Nothing! And yet, evil is triumphing all over the world. Broken male culture is making suffer all over the world. And yet, there are probably 300 million God’s men and how many pastors would love to go and make a phone call to their land of Tob.”
“I’m telling you to be good at your relationships, you need to rest, you need to eat right, you need to exercise. Why? God needs you to be strong. Strong for him. Strong in your walk. Strong to reach out. Strong for your relationships. Strong for your kids. Able to commit energy to his purposes and your relationships.”
“If doing life right means doing relationships right. If doing relationships right means loving. If being loving means practicing unselfishness, we need to experience in our own lives and possess it before we can give it away. And the best way to experience it is to have a relationship with Christ, the one who gave it all up.”
TAKING BACK CHRISTMAS means that we have to fight culture to win an experience with Christ. God shows us exactly what to do by modeling what he did that first Christmas Eve. Reset and renew your mind and spirit this Christmas -your soul will thank you.
“If you’re looking to learn how to be unselfish you gotta build strong relationships. Where do you learn that? Whether you’re ok at it or whether you never learned how to do it. You learn that in the family of God where both the father is and the model is in Jesus Christ.”
“You see, you can give up your right to get even because God settles the score. The reason He can is because His character is perfect. He’s good, and loving, and just. He has the character to settle the score without mixed motives. You, on the other hand, have a conflict of interest.”
“See, there’s a difference between happy relationships and healthy relationships. Health relationships have conflict and know how to do forgiveness. Happy relationships minimize the offense and resume the relationship while all of these trailing asteroids and issues are being dragged by the issue through the relationship. And guess what. Those rocks pile up.”
“A reflecting man is a connecting man. When you are a good self reflector. When you are able to look at yourself in the mirror first. And you’re honest with yourself and you do inventory in the same area that you are addressing in the relationship- trust me - that conversation will go ten times better.”
“Here’s a little mathematical formula- truth plus tact, plus timing equals transformation. You want your relationship to change? You’re gonna have to resolve conflict well. You gotta plan when you’re going to say stuff. What you’re going to say. How you say it. And truth plus tact plus timing equals a transformed relationship.”
“You’re filled with love or you’re filled with anger. And whatever is dominating your insides will leak on the outsides and dominate your interactions with people… at work, with your neighbor, with the person that needs you, with your wife, with your kids, it’s just going to leak out. So guess what? You gotta fill up on love.”
“God’s man should be great at relationships. He should love aggressively because he has been aggressively loved. We love because he first what? Loved us. See the connection? Burnin’ Love.”
“Love is the primary objective of life. If you don’t know how to love, if you do not live a life of love. If you’re not good at relationships…. nothing you say, nothing you know, nothing you believe, nothing you give, or nothing you accomplish will matter.”
“But love without deeds is simply indifference. You can blah blah blah it all day long but until people see you actually extend yourself and extend your hand and reach into their lives, the translation to them is, ‘he’s indifferent’. You know what the world needs? Guys who don’t substitute sympathy for action.”
“What is the general texture of your relationships? Not as how you would assess it but how would others around you assess you? Are you easy to be around? Are you affectionate in the same way that God has shown his affection toward you? And guys, we just gotta, we have a problem with this, we just gotta get over it!”
Bible says that being a man-pleaser (caring more what others think about you than God) is a TRAP. Jesus' critics could not deny one specific characteristic they saw in him. They said, "you aren't swayed by men." Are you? Join us for this powerful study about living on the other side of the fear of men.
“How do the men in your life speak into your life? They say, “Dude, I’m convinced that you’re more than what you are now. I’m convinced you’re good at that, you should be doing that. You’re God’s man. So,when you go on that business trip- be God’s man. When you go into that situation- be God’s man. This thing with your wife - be God’s Man. Do your duty.!’”
“What are you known for? Do you have that ease of movement among people? You can then go to a man or woman or child anywhere on the planet and you can love them because God has accepted you. God’s man, let me tell you something. It should be easy to be around you too because it was easy to be around Jesus.”
“What’s our new normal? We fight for the weak instead of exploit the weak, or exploit the situation for selfish purposes. We fight for the weak to serve God’s purposes. Let me ask you something. Are you fighting for the weak? Do you bring your masculine strength to come alongside of the people around you to lift them up and you use your strength to encourage the weak?”
“That when you experience in view of God’s mercy. you experience that. You begin to love aggressively. You start crossing borders and boundaries with people and wives and kids. That’s your new normal. God’s man knows how to love because he’s been deeply loved. He loves much because he has been forgiven much.”
“The measure of God’s man is not his behavior. The measure of a man is his willingness to, one, understand that he’s experienced mercy and he’s been accepted by God with all of his flaws. And then the expression of that comes with accepting people who are not like him.”
Millions of men are winning the battle of images and losing the battles of life because they are afraid of sharing their real life issues with another man. Like many men in the news today, they are like icebergs - you only see the tip of their true life while the rest remains hidden. The result? Destruction. Join men's expert and Pastor Kenny Luck for THE OTHER SIDE of fear.
“Do you know what the currency that truly speaks that people really want to see in God’s men? It’s not their ability to make money, not their ability to do politics, not their ability to build businesses. You know that the world is waiting for men to do? Love. To know how to love aggressively.”
“If God is God and if He is sovereign, providential, omnipotent, omniscient, all knowing, has my best interests in mind- if He really is the sovereign ruler of the universe, then any political structure that he allows is therefore his purpose, whether we get that or not… Government is not God.”
“As a man presents himself to God for change, as you stay in this relationship with God, as you humbly submit to your relationship to God. His areas where I have to sacrifice my agenda for his agenda, whatever the area is as I present myself and all of who I am and I’m squirming and I stay there on the altar… God begins to transform me.”
Fear is a controlling force but only if we give it place and permission in our lives. God wants you to live in the power and freedom of his Spirit free of fear. He has done his part, join this livestream and learn your part with Pastor Kenny Luck.
“Is a relationship with God about what I do or is about that I accept his choosing of me and his grace? And when it’s about what I do all of a sudden now it becomes less about what God did and about what I do. And so then that minimizes what God did and it maximizes what I do. And isn’t that the language of pride? It exalts me.”
"FOR THE SPIRIT GOD GAVE US DOES NOT MAKE US TIMID..."
If that is true then why do so many believing men live on the side fear versus faith? What has overtaken their vision and consequently taken over their spirit? If you want to break free from fear and experience Spirit-Empowered freedom and boldness join us this week at the CALL studies. Stop being a slave to fear. Start being a son of the King who prays and acts like Christ.
“God wants to use your mouth today to proclaim the Good News of salvation to someone who is not saved. God wants you to use my mouth. Let’s say that together, God wants to use my mouth. That’s right. He wants me to articulate what’s inside of me for someone else.”
“There are a lot of people who stay right here. ‘Well, you know, I just want to get all smart about the Bible’. The knowledge in you is only good if the knowledge the goes through you to people. And there’s no knowledge in this book that’s more important to go in you and through you than the salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.”
“God wants everybody to be saved. You can never write anyone off. Some of you are like, ‘man, i’ve never done something like that.’ And then there’s some of you and you’ve shared your faith a little. You may have even gone on a missions trip. But, you need to get activated. It’s sort of like your radar is off. It’s like, well that’s someone else’s job, or that’s my pastor’s job. I’ll just bring them to church.”
“You’re in one of those situations and you’re like, ‘why is this happening?’ It doesn’t seem right, it doesn't seem fair, it seems unjust. Yet, at the same time, because of the Gospel, our new normal is you know what? I don’t understand, but I know some things about you and I’m going to trust your choices for what you’re allowing to come to me.”
“How has your relationship with Christ and what he has done for you increased your sensitivity of others to others and their relationship with God and where they’re at spiritually? And then, how sensitive are we to the spiritual destiny of others around us? How far are we willing to go?”
God's man is called to target and overcome evil within himself and in his world. Specifically, we are called to fight the good fight of the faith. Don't enter this arena uninformed or ill-equipped. USE God's weapons.
Watch the final segment in our 4 part series entitled Target Acquired.
“Sometimes in life, God is working and tinkering on you and the only thing that will do- the only thing that will create maturity and character is test, trial, delay, difficulty. Because it’s going to get you to look to him versus look to yourself. Look to your faith versus your feelings. And God will do whatever it takes to get the end product.”
“There is one thing that does not happen instantly- the deliverance of character. A lot of times we think, ‘Oh, well, if I’m in Christ, well then, I’m going to become mature right away.’ Now on that one, God wants to pound that out. Because you didn’t get into the way you are overnight, you’re not going to get out of it overnight. That doesn’t make anybody mature.”
“And so oddly, in the midst of hell. There was an experience of liberty, of freedom, of finding out the truth and saying, ‘Oh God, you surely can bring something good out of something so evil’.”
Smart men discipline themselves to target relationships for strengthening and intimacy. Why? Because they know that if they don't do their relationships right they are not doing life right! They also know that at their funeral the people in their life will not be talking about their portfolio, their job title, where they vacationed, or how they served themselves. They WILL talk about how you gave life to them... or not. Join us for Target Acquired Part 3: RELATIONSHIPS.
My heart is God's target because my character is his biggest concern. People measure outward actions while God is measuring private intentions.
"What God is looking FOR in a man of God tells us what we should be looking AT as men of God. Most important is knowing what he has called us us to eliminate."
“Now, if we are co-heirs with Christ and he lives in us and we have the blessing of sonship, what’s the blessing of sonship for? It’s to suffer for what God declares to be significant, knowing that if we suffer for what is significant, we will also share in his glory.”
“’I don’t have to be that person anymore! And when you get tempted to be that old guy, you need to declare your spiritual reality to your flesh, and to Satan himself, and you say, ‘I don’t have to be that person anymore’.”
“’I don’t have to be that person anymore! And when you get tempted to be that old guy, you need to declare your spiritual reality to your flesh, and to Satan himself, and you say, ‘I don’t have to be that person anymore’.”
“’And there’s that new voice calling you forward saying, ‘You know what, you’re going to have to take a new risk here. I know that you’re used to doing it this way. But here’s what God says and here’s the example of Christ. Just take a new risk.’ And as we take a new risks, all of sudden, we begin to experience the freedom that is already ours in Jesus Christ. Amen? That’s how the process works.”
“’When things get tough, you just go back to the old you- the old ways of coping, the old ways of dealing with things, the old ways of doing relationships instead of the new ways and a new spirit. You see, it’s one thing to be made free by God, it is a totally different thing to act free.”
“Have you acknowledged that there is a part of yourself that is evil? That there’s a part of you that’s broken. That there’s a part of you that is not going to be totally extracted from you. It’s called the sin nature. It’s called selfishness. Sin is just synonymous with selfishness.’”
“We have to get to that point where we realize that will power is an oxymoron. Key word: MORON. Right. It’s a fantasy to believe that simply because I intend to be better or live a better life or become a better person that you will.’”
“Guys ever heard of the phrase, ‘regime change’? When a man comes into Christ, there is full regime change. You can struggle with regime change, but you can’t change full regime change. You can fight it. You can resist it. But the reality is, there is a new sheriff in town.’”
“ There’s this compartmentalization of life versus a full identification of life. Sort of like, ‘well, I’m going to step into Christ, but then I’m going to keep certain parts to myself. I’m going to keep the way I talk to my wife to myself. I’m going to keep the way I relate with her to myself. I’m going to keep my computer screen to myself. He’s not the Lord of my life, he’s an accessory of my life.’”
“And let me tell you, if you’re a non-believer and you’re listening to me right now, I feel you. Because I look at so many people who name the name of God but who don’t live out the life of God because it’s not really about God. I mean, they have religious words, but they don’t have religious ways privately. And if you have been confused by that, so am I.”
“Men begin this quest for validation in culture. It goes with titles, and toys, and titles, and the car I drive, all in this quest for validation. In reality, it’s a desperate quest for validation, acceptance and affirmation.”
“And I know, he wants a new normal for you. He wants to take you to a new level. It’s not how many people have I led to Christ. It’s not how many quiet times I’ve had. It’s not any other criteria other than what God sees. Because man looks at actions and God looks at intentions. And God wants to know, are you willing?”
“When we have the new normal, not only does our identity change, not only do our priorities change, not only do our loyalties change, and our thinking changes, and our relationship changes, and the way we approach other people changes, but what we say changes. Our message changes. Our message of our life, our message in our words.”
“When Jesus Christ invades a life like he invaded the Apostle Paul’s life. It’s a new normal. Because if it’s true, it changes everything. Truth is not a respecter of opinion. Truth is not a respecter of your feelings. Truth is not a respecter of your convenience or your comfort. It demands a response.”
“I remember in the fall of 1982 struggling with sexual integrity issues. And I had this split and I was so conflicted and I felt like such a total hypocrite. Because I couldn’t win the battle, seemingly, over this temptation. And I learned that my battle was every man’s battle. Amen?”
“If I am not impacting people, I am not bearing fruit that lasts. Who are you reaching? Or is it all about you? Are you reaching your kids? Are you reaching your wife? Are you reaching your neighbor? Are you reaching the unconnected man? Or is it all about you?”
“What I love about the word faithful is that there’s not number associated with it. Jesus didn’t say, “well done good and high performing servant.” He didn’t say that. He said, “well done good and faithful servant”. So my question to you is- do you realize that you’re accountable to God? Secondly, are you being faithful?”
“Are you taking your place? Is your life the light of men like it was of Jesus? Do they know that you have a mindset of eternity? Is your vapor trail marked as they see you in this life making your vapor trail- that is going to vanish? And what… what do they smell?”
“Is He still the God of miracles? Does He still have authority over evil? Yes He does. Because you are in Christ and the blood of Christ was shed for you and covers you. And you are in Him and you have spiritual authority. Unless you’re yielded to the authority of God in your life, don’t expect the power of God to flow through you.”
“It’s my stand that I have to take, in my season of battle…with the circumstances and accessories that God has given me…as a husband as a father, as an employee. Not just to protect and to provide but to advance the Kingdom of God in myself and in my family, and in in my world-wherever I am, whoever’s in front of me-I am an agent of light.”
“’And here’s an interesting thing- we need to get angry at ourselves. Some of you today need to say, ‘What am I doing? Why am I looking at porn? Why am I doing this? Why am I depersonalizing my wife? What am I doing? I’m God’s man! Forgive me for losing sight of you, Jesus.’ You need to get mad at yourself.”
“’I’m talking to some guys right now and you’re out of place. God is calling you back to take your place- as a God’s man who’s a husband, as a God’s man who’s a dad, as a God’s man who’s a neighbor. Because no one else can take the territory that only you can take and that God has assigned you to take in this hour. You can’t phone it in.”
“’Here’s the thing. He didn’t wake up that day going, ‘Oh you know what, I want to wreck my life.’ It never starts off that way. He didn’t wake up saying, I’ want to destroy another person, I want to destroy another family’. None of those thoughts were in there. Why? Because he was out of place. He was like ‘well, you know, I’m gonna give myself these liberties’.”
“There are men who fear God. But then there are men who FEAR God. And put to their feet their belief and they step in to get dirty. They’re like God’s Marines. Beach landing? I’m there? Risk? I’m there. Adventure? I’m there. That’s who I want us to be, amen? That’s who we are. That’s who you are.”
“We are going to arouse the anger and visceral anger of satan as go in to the gap to build the wall. There are just types of satans and demons who hate the work of God, hate the work of the Church, hate the work of God’s kingdom, who hate the work that God is doing in your heart.”
“For whenever there is holy assembly of men, and a holy vision, holy momentum, holy choices, holy transformation to go do something great that shows love for God and people in a community. You have no idea how that will ripple out until you get to heaven, that always changes history.”
“Step one is a gut check between you and God. And how you feel about God’s heart. And about your willingness to express God’s heart. Not in some other country, though that is good. Or not on some other continent, though that is good. But right here where you live… on a consistent basis.”
“Who is my neighbor? My neighbor is the one who gives away his own dignity and divests himself of his own dignity to restore the dignity that was lost by this other person. Compassion means not being at peace until someone else’s peace has been fully restored. Who is my neighbor?.”
“Doing relationships right means you’re doing life right. Now, if you’re married and you’re connected to a woman. Doing your relationship right necessarily implies that you’re doing your sex life right as well. Because when you’re doing relationship right with a woman and you’re manifesting the qualities that we talked about you’re going to do your sex life right.”
“Women love men who think of others first, beginning with her. It’s so interesting that when you’re in the first phase of pursuing a woman, you think about her all the time. After the ring goes on or after you kinda settle into the relationship, she like gets confused. She’s like ‘where did that guy go?’ Now I just throw him a bag of chips and a remote.”
“When you rank, when you talk to men and you say, hey, what are some of the most important things to you. Sex is either number one or two. Women… number seven. They’re way more concerned with other things. They’re focused on other things other than sex. But, if those things are happening, the sex is great.”
“When you rank, when you talk to men and you say, hey, what are some of the most important things to you. Sex is either number one or two. Women… number seven. They’re way more concerned with other things. They’re focused on other things other than sex. But, if those things are happening, the sex is great.”
“Now, how we perceive ourselves sexually can be driven by culture or can it be driven by Christ. One way of perceiving sexual reality leads to death, and destruction, and injustice, and all of these different pains. The other way produces life, and peace, and joy, and fulfillment.”
We’re guys, so let’s just get practical. What can a man do to find the best sexual satisfaction in life?
“God knows where your sex life exists in private. And you know what? That’s a room of your life you need to open a door to him. I know it’s private, I know it’s personal, I know there’s a lot of shame there, I know there’s a lot of energy there, I know there’s a lot of emotions there, I know that there are a lot of desires there. But he wants into that- body, mind, and soul.”
“God knows where your sex life exists in private. And you know what? That’s a room of your life you need to open a door to him. I know it’s private, I know it’s personal, I know there’s a lot of shame there, I know there’s a lot of energy there, I know there’s a lot of emotions there, I know that there are a lot of desires there. But he wants into that- body, mind, and soul.”
“I said, ‘Look, the reason that that stuff’s in there is because I am God’s man, I love the Lord, I love you, I love our kids, I am battling to slay my demons. I don’t look at women the way most men look at women. I’m really battling to guard my heart my mind my soul because I want the healthiest sexual expression in my life that shows love for God, love for you, and love for my children.”
“And my goal is just to help you realize the value of your sexuality. And a lot of times, we’re just not told that. We’re actually shamed about it. But if it’s God’s design, then it intrinsically has God’s value attached to it. So when you assign value to anything, you stop misusing it and you start enjoying it.”
“There’s no such thing as having a heart for God and no spine. God allows pressure and wants to use pressure to build spiritual integrity because it’s the only way you can have a spine for God to match a heart for God. But Satan wants to leverage pressure to destroy you.”
“Now, why do people gasp and take deep breaths when they stand at the ocean? What they are experiencing at that moment, whether they know it or not- is that they are in God’s playground. And for the Christian, that is amplified a hundred fold. Why? Because you actually know the creator.”
“Now, why do people gasp and take deep breaths when they stand at the ocean? What they are experiencing at that moment, whether they know it or not- is that they are in God’s playground. And for the Christian, that is amplified a hundred fold. Why? Because you actually know the creator.”
“Full bars requires stillness and it requires quiet. You can’t have a strong connection with God unless you can stop and deal with busy and hurry. You can’t have a strong connection with God if you can’t be silent.”
“If there is an inability in your life to be silent, in order to connect, in order to listen, in order to hear, and in order to receive. If there is an inability to be silent, that, my friend, is unhealthy.”
“Here’s the point if you can’t stop, men. If you can’t be still, by your actions the message is, ‘I’m God’. Because you’re just being self-sufficient versus God-dependent. No time to stop and be still? Then there’s no need. No need for God? I’m God. Period.”
“If you find yourself saying, ‘I’m slammed’ all the time, you’re not so much stating a fact as you are a priority. You find yourself saying, ‘but this really important’. You find yourself saying, ‘Hey honey, I”m going to be home late again.’ See, you find yourself saying stuff that tells everybody else, God and people in your life, that ‘I’m filling the margins of my life with stuff.’ ”
“And if you’re going to the church of self. And you say no to God and yes to self-sufficiency, I can with certainty predict the disintegration your relationship with God and with people. Because there’s no such thing as a well connected self-centered man. It’s not possible.”
“You know what the big problem is with men, broken male culture worldwide? They’re insecure and afraid. And when men are insecure and afraid and they’re not filled up and secure in a relationship with God they get their security from things that harm people. You know that’s what we need more than anything in society with men? They need to be secure, forgiven, accepted.”
“God wants to meet with you often. That place of encounter, wherever you choose to make it. It could be at your desk at work before everybody arrives. It could be in your car. But you know, the heart of God does not change. The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And guess what? He misses His time with you.”
“This time on Earth, you live in a hot battle zone. You’ve been deposited by God’s air calvary into the families, into the areas, and into the regions to fight. You have been dropped into a war. And God is saying, ‘Wake up! Detonate!’ ”
“Am I spreading the knowledge of Christ through how I calibrate my heart, which then calibrates my character, which then directs my conduct, which leads to choices, which leads to consequences. The main consequence that is to be exploding out of your life is that you are to bring a knowledge of Him to a world that needs him.”
“So guys, if we’re a box of dynamite, what is the C4 that is going to explode out of you? Is it the self-driven life? Is it self-sufficiency? Is it me? What is it? The Bible says, exchange that for the Spirit of God and put off that old guy. It’s not somebody you wink and shake hands with. No. We boot him.”
“Guys, the secret to creating a new blast zone is this- you must marinate your mind in this book. So my question to you is, what is the predominate ingredient in you mental marinade that informs and flavors the way you think?”
“The question is not, ‘Do I have a blast zone of influence?’ The question is, ‘What kind of blast zone do I have?’ And to do that, requires a man. Because only a man has the courage to be honest enough to ask himself the hard questions about his impact and his influence.”
“You can live the faith driven life or you can live the fear or feeling driven life. That’s the self driven life. That’s the life of self preservation. Because you’re living in response to the things that you fear and your insecurities versus out of a life of faith. That’s what a man does. He lives for righteousness, he lives for godliness, he lives out of his faith. Not of his fear or his feelings.”
“You will be faced with your turning hours. Those times when you get the opportunity to face up to real responsibility, and real relationships that call you out. And that turning hour defines large spans of your life and large spans of your legacy. It’s what you will be remembered for at your funeral.”
“You know how I know you’ve been with Jesus? His intentions about God and people are matched with a spine. You can’t be with Jesus and hang with him and see his courage and not man up. Because we have the person of Christ living within us, the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us and empowering us, and the purposes of God to drive us.”
“You know how I know you’ve been with Jesus? His intentions about God and people are matched with a spine. You can’t be with Jesus and hang with him and see his courage and not man up. Because we have the person of Christ living within us, the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us and empowering us, and the purposes of God to drive us.”
“When you have the middle ground to go to, it creates vacillation or fluctuating spiritual commitment. It creates trepidation letting apprehension and panic rule your emotions about your mission. You see, that’s what the middle ground does.”
“Manning up, do you know what it looks like? It’s where you stand up to the fears of men. It’s where you face up to your responsibilities to God, it’s where you give up living for yourself and living for God, it’s when you take up a purpose that is higher than yourself- the cause of your King. Amen? Then you become a leader and a man of influence. You see, that’s what manning up is. It’s just being responsible.”
“Well, but first let me accumulate enough money. Well, but first let me feel better about my bible knowledge and myself then I’ll be obedient and talk to that guy about the Lord. First let me- and fill in the blank. Your flesh and the devil are bombarding you with rationalizations and justifications for delaying obedience in the moment.”