Act Like Men - Preparation for our Act Like Men Weekend

Well, if you would take your Bible and turn back to the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verses 13 and 14. I'm going to mention some other verses in the book of 1 Corinthians. It might do you some good to study the book of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians this week, both of those books, because these verses have within it the backdrop of what God was doing in the life of this local church. One of these verses is the Apostle Paul writing these things. Context is always keen, folks. If we understand the context, it helps us understand the verses, the phrases, the words that we are studying.

Now, I think we all know that next weekend we are setting aside some time for our men and their sons. Friday night we're going to get together in our fellowship hall at 6 p.m. for stakes. And then we're going to have a message from God's word specifically for men. Then Saturday morning we are meeting out at Lake Lincoln. Some are going to go out early to fish. Some are going out around 9 a.m. or so for some activities with our young men. And some are going out around 9 or 10 o'clock just to fellowship around a grill. You know, it's something about a grill and men getting together around a grill.

Those of you who are smiling, you know what I mean. And then we're going to eat burgers off the grill around 1230, and then we'll have a message for men from God's word. And then Sunday morning our men and their sons are meeting for breakfast in our fellowship hall at 9 o'clock. And as we're finishing up breakfast, one of our men is going to share a testimony about how God had saved him and how God is working in his life as a husband and as a father and as a man of God. And then we'll all gather as a church for worship to hear God's word preached. And then we're going to have a challenge especially for men.

And then after morning worship, we'll cap all of these things off with two testimonies of conversion. We'll have two baptisms, and then this will all take place around our first Sunday fellowship. Now what's the purpose of our weekend? Good food. Personally, I anticipate a good steak. I like mine bloody. I don't know about you. I like mine a little bloody. We're going to have good Christian fellowship with brothers. I anticipate some good Christian fellowship. But more important than food and fellowship, as men of God we want to influence our boys and young men in the faith. Isn't that right?

And most important, the most important thing is we need instruction from God's word that will help us all become the men of God that God wants us to be. I know I said this Wednesday night, I may have said this last Sunday, I don't remember, but my goal is that our women ask for more of these kinds of events. My goal is that our women ask for more of these kind of weekends because they say that the act like men weekend made their husbands a better man of God than he was before.

Years ago I used to deer hunt with a friend of mine back home, and his wife would say that she liked her husband to go to the deer camp with a group of us that hunted together. She said that because she said he came home a better man of God than before. That's the kind of things we need folks, out of the church and in the church. Now I think most of you know the theme for the weekend is act like men. And the theme actually comes from the scriptures that we read earlier. You've seen that. First Corinthians 16 verse 13, Paul says be watchful. He says stand firm in the faith, act like men.

Now that little phrase there probably surprised some of you. He says act like men, be strong. And then verse 14, let all that you do be done in love. Now this morning I'm going to give us a pre-act like men weekend message, and I have two basic purposes in all of these things. First this message is meant to show us how men of God should act, how men of God should live. Here God tells us to act like men, and he tells us what all of this looks like. And then second this message is meant to prepare us for the week and the weekend that is coming up. Now men, listen to you pastor. Not just men, all of us, but especially men.

If we think about what it means to act like men, we should really become angry. We should really become very angry, very angry. You might say pastor is an anger, one of the works of the sinful nature listed in Galatians chapter 5. Is an anger a sin? Well in one way it is. But there is such a thing as being angry without sin. Ephesians 4.26 says be angry and do not sin, which tells us we can become angry without sinning. And then there is such a thing as a righteous anger. Righteous anger is directed against evil, but at the same time not letting that anger turn into sin. Righteous anger is absent of self, selfishness and any sinfulness.

Righteous anger is rooted in the desire to see truth and righteousness prevail. Now let me give you an example, kind of explain what I mean. A righteous anger hates all sin and all sinfulness. A righteous anger hates all forms of sexual immorality. And we should work hard to keep any form of sexual immorality out of our thinking, out of our minds and out of our lives. And when we see any sexual immorality in our lives and in the lives of brothers and sisters, really immorality anywhere, we should be angry with a righteous anger.

And look church, this kind of anger is not only not sinful, this kind of anger is called righteous because it is right. We see this in the life of our Lord when He was on earth. In John 2 when Jesus went up to Jerusalem at the time of Passover, He found the temple filled with animals along with men selling animals and those men exchanging money. And the sin was not in selling of the animals or the exchanging of the money. Those things were necessary for the Passover celebration. The sin was in the merchants taking advantage of the people for profit and the sin was in filling up the temple with all of those things.

And in verse 15 we see that Jesus made a whip and He drove out all of the merchants and the animals and He drove them all out of the temple. And as Jesus was driving them out, He was overturning tables, He was scattering their money and He was saying, "Take these things away. Stop making my Father's house a place of business." Now the text does not specifically say that Jesus was angry, but Jesus obviously was filled with a righteous anger when He cleared the temple. And what I'm driving at is this. There is such a thing as a righteous anger and a righteous anger should be a part of our lives.

Proverbs 8.13 says, "The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil." Well, what should we be angry about? We should be angry at the fact that the world is telling us who a man is. The world is telling us what a man is and the world is telling us how a man should act. We should be angry because 99% of what the world is telling us about men is a lie and those lies come right out of the sewer of hell. We should be angry at the fact that most churches have failed miserably to teach what it means to be a man of God and how a man of God should act. Most churches today have failed to even teach men what it means to be truly converted to Christ.

That means that we have churches full of men who are not even saved. So how can they act like a man of God when they do not even know God? And look at the results. So many churches are full of men who act just like the world tells them to act. So many churches are full of men who do not even act like Christians in any way because they are not Christian. So this morning I want us to see how a man of God should act. And this comes from the one who created man. That's God. And if God created man, and He did, and if God is God and He is, then God has the authority to dictate how we should act.

Now in these verses before us we have five short commands, one right after the other. Easy for us to see. And these commands really could fit into any of Paul's letters. So there's some general application. But these instructions do relate to the Corinthian situation. That's why I said it would be good for us to read those books. So there's some application for us from their circumstances. So we're going to take these commands one at a time.

So number one, Paul says, "Be watchful." Paul says, "Be watchful." The English Standard Version says, "Be watchful." The New American says, "Be on alert." The Amplified says, "Be on guard." And that can make us ask a question. Which is it? Which translation is right? Well all three of them are right. This word in the original means to be alert. It means to be awake. It means to watch. It means to be attentive and to even be vigilant.

Strong's concordance in his definition says, "This means to keep awake, that is to watch literally or figuratively." So Paul was commanding these believers, and especially the men, to make sure that they were awake and alert. He was calling them to be awake and alert and even be vigilant. And we need to see how this applied to the Corinthian situation. If we read both letters to the Corinthians, we will see that those in the Corinthian church were lazy. They were unguarded both morally and spiritually. They were at a very, very low state, morally and spiritually. Morally.

They had allowed their old wicked lives to linger in their new lives in Christ, and they brought all of that into the church. They brought drunkenness into the church, even at the Lord's Supper. They allowed immorality to exist in the fellowship. And this was a type of immorality that even the pagan culture condemned. They were a horribly overindulgent people. They even sought to gratify their own desires in the life of the church at the expense of other people. And then spiritually, they had allowed factions and divisions to run all throughout the congregation.

They had allowed human wisdom and philosophies to dominate their thinking instead of looking only to God's Word. They had terrible views on marriage within their fellowship and these terrible views related to divorce and celibacy. They even misunderstood and abused their spiritual gift and gifts. And if you break this down, just this one book, 1 Corinthians, you will see that Paul is basically dealing with bad behavior in chapters 1 to 14, and he's dealing with bad theology in chapter 15. Now what is my point here? The Corinthians had become spiritually lazy and slothful.

They were drunk, literally drunk, with spiritual laziness and spiritual slothfulness. And that laziness allowed all sorts of sin to come into their personal lives and even into the life of the church. So what does Paul do? What does Paul do? He tells the women of the church to be watchful, alert, vigilant spiritually so as to correct all of these things and to keep them from coming back into the lives of the church. No, he doesn't. He doesn't address women. Who is he addressing? Men. Look, church, there's a lesson here. There's a lesson. So many churches today are led by the women.

Now the women might not be in the leadership roles, but they're led by the women. Years ago, years ago, I was involved in the life of a church. I wasn't on staff. But Brother Keith can attest to this. You have to be 55 years old as a man to finally get a man to teach you in Sunday school. See? Now why do I point that out? Because that's so prevalent in today's culture. And I'm thankful that we don't have that problem here. But Paul commands all of these believers in the church, but especially the men, he commands them to be watchful, alert, and vigilant spiritually. Why?

So as to correct all of the problems in the life of the church and in their personal lives, and then to keep them from coming back into their lives. But we need to see how this relates to us even more. Now again, we don't have problems like the Corinthian church did, but this still relates to us. So we need to see what this means to be vigilant, what it looks like for us. And if we look at how this word is used all throughout the New Testament, we will see that we are commanded to be watchful and alert about many things. I ran across several commentators that had different lists, and I kind of combined them all.

And there are several things I want us to look at. First, we are called to be alert and watchful for the schemes of the devil. We saw this in our study in Ephesians 6, verses 10 to 13. And we see this from the Apostle Peter as well. In the 1st Peter 5, 8 to 9, Peter says, "Be sober-minded. Be watchful." And he goes on to say, "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world." So we see that we are called to be watchful.

We are called to be alert, looking out for the schemes of Satan. Then second, we are called to be alert and watchful for false teachers and false teaching. Now the New Testament is full of warnings against false teachers and false teaching. One particular event I will mention to you, when Paul was on his way to Rome, he called the elders of the church at Ephesus to gather together one last time with him. This would be the last time he would see them face to face and instruct them face to face. Now what does he say to the elders of the church at Ephesus? He would never see them again face to face. What does he say?

He says, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all of the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." That's elders. To care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. He says, "I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you." Who are the fierce wolves? False teachers. Not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away disciples after them. Those are false teachers among them, propagating false teaching for their own good and benefit. And what does he say in verse 31?

"Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease day and night to admonish every one of you with tears." That's Acts 20 verses 28 to 31. So just like the Ephesians, we are called to be alert and watchful for false teachers and false teaching. And where does that come from? From the schemes of the devil. And third, we are called to be awake and alert and watchful for spiritual apathy in our lives. Apathy was the sin that had crept into the church at Sardis. Some of you know about the church at Sardis.

They had a name that they were alive, but they were indifferent to God's will, so they were totally unaware that they were dead. Jesus told them in Revelation 3, 2 to 3, he says, "Wake up! Wake up! Lengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard. Keep it and repent." MacArthur says, "By definition, a person who is apathetic and indifferent is insensitive and therefore cannot be alert." So we are called to be alert and to be watchful, making sure that we do not ease into spiritual apathy.

And notice, if you ease into spiritual apathy, you cannot be alert. Therefore you cannot see the schemes of the devil and you very well can fall prey to false teaching and false teachers. And then on the more positive side, fourth, we are called to be alert and watchful in prayer. When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, he called his disciples to watch and to pray. And he said so that they would not fall into temptation.

In Mark 1438, Jesus said, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation." And then notice what he says, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh, the body, is weak." And here Jesus was calling his disciples to be alert, to be watchful in prayer because Jesus knew that spiritual strength came from God. He knew that spiritual attentiveness came from God. And he called them to be alert and watchful. And he knew their spirits were willing, but their flesh, their bodies were very, very weak. So we are called to be alert and to be watchful in prayer.

And notice, if we are not watchful in prayer, the temptation for apathy and all the other things come our way. And then fifth, we are called to be watchful for our Lord's return. If we look at the portions of Scripture that deal with eschatology, we will see an urging to be watchful for Christ's return. Specifically when Jesus was speaking about his second coming, he called his followers to be watchful, to be alert. Matthew 2.42 says, "Therefore, stay awake. Be alert, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." So we are called to be alert and watchful for the Lord's return.

Now folks, church, especially us men, right here we have to make some evaluation. Are we spiritually awake? Are we spiritually alert? Are we watchful? Are we vigilant as we are being watchful? And men, the first step in acting like men and being the man of God that he wants us to be, that first step is being awake, is being alert, is being watchful spiritually. And my question is, how are we doing here? And folks, men, if we relax for one minute. If we give our flesh an inch, it will always take a mile and then some. So we must act like men, we must be watchful.

And then number two, Paul says, "Stand firm in the faith." Paul says, "Stand firm in the faith." Now to get at what Paul was saying here, we need to look at two phrases just in that small portion of scripture. We need to see what it means to stand firm. We need to see what Paul means by the faith. Now to stand firm is pretty simple. This speaks of being stationary or keeping one's position. And if we look in the New Testament, we see this exact same word used nine other times. Two times this word is used to speak of standing. One time it is used to speak of standing firm under judgment.

Six times this word is used to refer to one standing firm, standing constant, and standing while persevering. So to stand firm means to keep one's position. It speaks of being immovable. It speaks of being stationary. One commentator said, "In Paul, this invariably has the sense of standing firm in Christ as opposed to falling." I like that. And then the faith is pretty simple too. But there can be some opinion here. Some say this can speak of saving faith. But this cannot speak of saving faith since a believer cannot lose their saving faith, nor can Satan take saving faith away.

And as pitiful as many of the Corinthian Christians were, they could not lose their faith and Satan could not take their faith away. But Paul was calling them to stand firm in God and in the doctrines of the gospel which he had given them. Back in chapter 15, verses 1-2, Paul called them to stand in the gospel which he had preached to them. And here he is calling them afresh and anew to stand firm in the truth of the gospel and all of the truth of the faith. Again, he was calling them to stand immovable in the faith and in all of the truths of the faith.

So Paul was commanding this fellowship and these men to stand firm in the gospel and in all of the truth concerning the faith. He was calling these men to be immovable in the faith which is the truth of the gospel and all of the truth of the faith. And we need to see this command up against how the Corinthians were living. Within the church, human wisdom and worldly philosophies had undermined how they saw God's Word. For some in the church, those things had almost completely destroyed their view of God's Word.

Of all the problems that Paul addressed in this church, he addressed division first and the problem of worldly philosophies and human wisdom second. Listen to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 18-23. Paul says, "For the word of the cross is folly or foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.' Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles." So Paul was calling them to totally abandon human wisdom and worldly philosophies. He was showing them that those things are made completely foolish by God and the wisdom of God. Well, what's the point here? These Corinthians, and especially the men, they were wavering in their faith.

Not that they were losing their salvation or Satan could somehow take it away, but they were holding on to worldly philosophies and the wisdom of men. And this was eroding away at their trust in the truth of the gospel and the truth of the faith. So what does Paul do? He calls them to read the latest book. He calls them to go to the biggest and the best conference. He calls them to binge listen the best podcast. No, he calls them back to the wisdom of God and the wisdom of God only. And look, church, it's not that there's something wrong with books.

It's not that there's something wrong with conferences or podcasts or any of those things, unless number one, those things are communicating error or number two, you're too heavily influenced by those things above and beyond God's word. And my point is this, the wisdom of God was enough for these Corinthian believers and especially the men. God's word and God's word alone was enough to bring these men out of the swamp of moral and spiritual mass they were in. And for us, especially us men, two things. First we must make sure that worldly wisdom and human philosophies are not dominating our minds and our thinking.

You know they're believers, men in the church who listen to Joe Rogan more than they read their Bible. You see what I mean? They're men in the church who used to listen to Rush Limbaugh more than they read their Bible. Can those guys be right? Sure. Can those guys be wrong? Sure. But those are, that's the wisdom of men. That's human philosophies. You see? And look men, God's word is what we need to stand firm in the faith. We do not need human wisdom. We don't need worldly wisdom. We don't need the philosophies of men. All we need is God's word. I say this from time to time. What about the poor Christian who lives in the jungle?

He didn't have all those things. All he's got is the Holy Spirit and God's word. He can't make it. He didn't have the latest podcast. And second, we must make sure that we are reading the Word, meditating on the Word, and holding true to God's word. Hitting at God's word a little here and a little there is not enough. And look men, what we teach you here, think about what we do. We systematically take you through chapter and verse, chapter and verse, Sunday morning, Wednesday night, any time somebody stands behind this pulpit, they're going to teach and preach to you God's word. In small groups, you get God's word. We are about the truth.

What did we learn last week in Ephesians? How important is the belt of truth? So we must act like men. We must stand firm in the faith. And then number three, Paul says act like men, not like boys. That's going to surprise you. Act like men, not like boys. Now when we look at the English Standard and the New American, both say act like men. The New International version says be men of courage. The Amplified says act like mature men and be courageous. But listen to the very unique reading of the King James. It says quit you like men. Quit you like men, which is rather strange to our ears. And here we have to ask which is right.

The more modern translations of the King James with that strange reading, which is right. All of them are right. That is because this is a very strange word in the original and is found nowhere else except for right here in the scripture. In the original, this word actually means quit behaving as a child and act like a man. Albert Barnes says, and I'm quoting, it means to render one manly or brave to show oneself a man that is not to be a coward or timid or alarmed at enemies, but to be bold and brave. Warren Wiersby says, and I'm quoting, this was a call to courageous manliness and an hour when mature leadership was needed.

Now I'm going to add to Barnes and the Wiersby. I'm going to add to what Barnes says first. This means to render one manly or brave in spiritual matters. To show oneself a man in spiritual things. This is a call to leave spiritual cowardliness, spiritual timidity behind and to not be alarmed at spiritual enemies that are before us. I want to add to what Wiersby says by saying, this was a call to courageous spiritual manliness and an hour when spiritual leadership was and is needed. So Paul was calling them to quit acting like children and act like men of God in all of these things.

And we need to see how this command really related to the Corinthian believers, especially the men, the background. Actually this was a command that Paul had given them more than once earlier. Chapter three, verse one, Paul said to them, but I brothers could not address you as spiritual people, but as a people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. You see that? He says they were of the flesh, infants, babies in Christ. And then in chapter four, verse 20, Paul said, brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Do not be childlike. Be infants and evil, but in your thinking mature. Now what is the point here?

These Corinthian Christians, especially the men, they were very, very, very immature spiritually. The men were spiritual babies at worst and children at best. Wow. They were spiritual babies at worst and spiritual children at best. So what does Paul do? He calls them out. He called them out hard. He tells them that they are not spiritual, but of the flesh. He calls them babies in Christ and childish in their thinking. And he calls the men of the church to man up and to be mature men of God in their thinking and in their living. And if you think about it, this could have been and may have been insulting to them and it should have been.

And look church for us, especially us men, it's not enough for our wives to be spiritually mature and growing in their faith. As the men of the church, we must be the most spiritually mature in the building. We must be the most spiritually mature in our home. Too many churches relegate the spiritual maturity to the ladies, but that's not God's way. Too many churches relegate spiritual maturity to the ladies, but that's not God's way and I don't detect that that's what's going on here. We have to be vigilant and alert because if we relax men in any way, the ladies will be more spiritually mature than us and we'll be out of balance.

And look men, we must lead out in our small groups. Man, how many of you do you small group material? We must lead out. We must lead out in Sunday morning. How many of you get up early and study and prepare and pray and come ready? How many of you take what's taught and go back and discuss it with your wife and your children in your home? How many of you take your small group lesson and not only study it but discuss it later on in the week with your wife? We must lead out. We must lead out on Wednesday nights. We're going verse by verse through the book of Philippians. If you can't get here, you need to get it. God's teaching us.

How many of you are leading out as you should? So we must not act like boys, children. We must act like men in spiritual matters. And then number four, Paul says, "Be strengthened." Number four, Paul says, "Be strengthened." Verse 13, "Be watchful, standing firm in the faith. Act like men, not like boys. Be strong." Now, all the translations say the same, but the verb tense here adds something to the meaning. It is in the passive voice and seeing this really helps us see what Paul was saying. This word in the original speaks of inner spiritual strength. Barnes says this means to be firm, fixed, and steadfast.

And Barnes references Ephesians 6 verse 10 which says, "Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might." We know the verse. But the tense of the verb tells us the true meaning. This literally means be strengthened, not be strong. That is because that a believer cannot strengthen themselves. We know that. Only God can strengthen the believer. We've learned that in Ephesians starting in chapter 6 verse 10. We've been studying this extensively in chapter 3 starting in verse 10 in Ephesians on down to verse 13. Spiritual strength and the strength of the Lord cannot come from oneself or from self-effort.

The believer is to submit to the Lord for the strength of the Lord. Now, we need to see this. It's how it relates to the Corinthian situation. And if we have paid attention in the message, we know it. It's obvious most of the Corinthian Christians were the opposite of spiritual strength and being strengthened in the Lord, especially the men. In chapter 3 verse 1, Paul says they were infants in Christ. How strong is an infant? And infants in their faith are not strong in the Lord. In chapter 14, Paul says they were children in their thinking and in their faith. How strong is a spiritual child?

Spiritual children in their faith, they're not strong in the Lord. So the Corinthian Christians and the men were not strong. They were the opposite. At their worst, they were weak as babies. At their best, they were weak as children. So they were not strong because of all of the sin that they had allowed, all of the apathy that they had allowed, all of this laziness that they had allowed in their life, and it had zapped them and completely ruined their spiritual strength. So what does Paul do? He caused them to be strengthened. How? By being alert, by being watchful, by being vigilant in all of these things. He caused them to be strengthened.

How? By standing firm in the faith and denying the worldly philosophies of the world. And then how does he call them to be strengthened? He calls them to man up. He calls them to act like mature spiritual men, not children, not babies. And he calls all of these things. He calls them to do all of these things so that they would become strong. And look, church, in the life of our church, the men have got to be the strongest spiritually and growing the most in the strength of the Lord. Men, husbands, are you the strongest spiritually in your home? Are you the one growing the strongest in your home in the Lord? Or is it your wife?

Or is it one of your children? So we must act like men. We must be strong. And then number five, Paul says, do all of these things in love. Paul says, do all of these things in love. Let's read our verse one more time. Verse 13, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. And then verse 14, let all that you do be done in love. Warren Raresby says, and I'm quoting, but even manliness needs to be balanced with love, needs leadership become dictatorship. MacArthur says, love complements and balances everything else. It is the beautiful, softening principle.

It keeps our firmness from becoming hardness and our strength from becoming domineering. It keeps our maturity gentle and considerate. It keeps our right doctrine from becoming obstinate dogmatism and our right living from becoming smug self-righteousness. And this command is simple and easy to see. Paul was calling them to the rule of love, love or charity as the King James reads. Paul was saying that must be the ruling principle of all that they did. And we need to see this up against the Corinthian situation. And notice, of all of the spiritual things the Corinthians were missing, and there was a lot, love was at the top of their list.

That is why Paul gave them the great love chapter, chapter 13. Think about it. In 13 verses, Paul called them to do all the things that he had commanded them and then some in love and out of love. He called them to live out the entire Christian life in love and out of love. He says that if they had all of these things and they did all of these things and they did not have love, they were nothing. They were nothing. So what does Paul do? He calls them to the ruling principle of love, the ruling principle of love. And look church, the ruling principle of love is self-evident. When this ruling principle is absent, that is self-evident.

I've used this example before. My wife, Christy, has an uncle who was a legitimate 6'8". I met him one time, 300 pounds. And when he walked in the door, he did not have to say, "Hey, by the way, I'm 6'8". Self-evident. Years ago, I went to church with a particular man. He was very prominent in the community, very prominent spiritually, but he was one of the most prideful and egotistical men I ever met. You didn't have to be in the room with him for five seconds to smell the stench of pride. It was self-evident. Oh, he was able to stand behind the pulpit and share and lead, be a leader in the church. Why?

Because of his prominent place in the community. But everybody else, the regular people who sat in the pew knew exactly what he was. He stunk with pride. Those things are self-evident. Now, what am I trying to show you here? The ruling principle of love. If it is in our life, it is evident. It is evident. Everybody will see it, sense it, know it, experience, smell it, taste it, and live it as well. But if that ruling principle of love is not in your life, that is evident as well. And men, if we're going to act like men in all of these things, the ruling principle of love must be in our lives. So we must act like men.

We must do all of these things in love. Now, as I close, church, especially men, I believe we need to have a fierce, righteous anger directed at two things. The conclusion is short. The conclusion comes out of the introduction. First, we should be angry when we see the world telling us who a man is, what a man is and how a man should live. But look, folks, you can't see that if you're not alert, watchful, and vigilant. Men, you need to be alert, watchful, and vigilant. And we should see what the world says about who we should be, what we should be, and how we should live. And look, that should make us angry.

It should make us angry, especially when we know the faith and we know what the Scriptures say. And then second, we need a fierce, righteous anger for how God says we should live and act. When we see these things before us, we need a righteous anger that drives us to these things. You might say, "Pastor, a righteous anger can drive us to these things?" Yes. And as we turn our attention to our act like men weekend, let's be in prayer. Let's be in prayer for each other. Let's be in prayer for the man who's coming to lead us. Pastor us during the week, Bill Blair. Let's pray for our young men, our little boys.

Let's pray for every single one of us. Let's pray and let's anticipate God working in us to these things so that we can better act like men. And so our wives can say, "Hey, Pastor, when are you going to have another one of those weekends?" I like what God did in the life of my husband. So let's pray and commit these things to the Lord.