BE a real man – God’s Way 1. 2 Men to help one another with vine work Become better disciples ourselves Lead the way in making more disciples for.

BE a real MAN

Session 2

BE a real man – God’s Way 1

THANKS

BE a real man – God’s Way 2

Men to help one another with vine work Become better disciples ourselves Lead the way in making more disciples

for Christ Help and be helped by our Christian

friends

Purpose

Outline for series

The real man and...› Week 1: a friend?› Week 2: his devotion to God?› Week 3: his spiritual fervour?› Week 4: his wife?› Week 5: his children?› Week 6: his acquaintances?› Week 7: his work› Week 8: his free time

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DEV

OTIO

N T

O G

OD Psalm 8

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Devotion to God

MIND

DEVOTIONAL DISCIPLINE

PRAYER (Next week)

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MIN

D To deny there is a conscious assault on the Christian mind and its traditional values is like believing Saddam Hussein [was] building a “kinder, gentler world.” – Hughes

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Mind Control

1. Train your thoughts2. Stop worrying3. Press for the prize4. Count on God’s goodness5. Accept the unacceptable

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1. Train your thoughts

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8, NIV84)

Intentionally program, immerse in scripture

logidzamai… deliberate and prolonged contemplation as if one is weighing a mathematical problem.

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2. Stop worrying

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34, NIV84)

Condition?

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3. Press for the Prize

“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,” (Philippians 3:13, NIV84)

What is the prize?

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4. Count on God’s Goodness

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, NIV84)

Condition?

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5. Accept the unacceptable

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36, NIV84)

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Mind Block

If we are to have Christian minds, there are things we must put out of our minds — and this extends beyond TV, to what we read, listen to, and laugh at.

“To deny there is a conscious assault on the Christian mind and its traditional values is like believing Saddam Hussein [was] building a “kinder, gentler world.”

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV84)

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Caveat: Careful!

Train mind in everything useful› Acts 17:23› Acts 17:28› Titus 1:12

Sources outside Scripture/Christianity can be useful

Where have God places you?

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DEV

OTIO

NA

L DIS

CIP

LINE To give over or direct (as time, money, or effort) to a cause, enterprise, or

activity

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DEVOTIONAL DISCIPLINE

1. Meditation

2. Confession

3. Adoration

4. Submission

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1. Discipline - Meditate

Listen – Ps 40:6› “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;

My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.” (Psalm 40:6, NASB95)

Mutter› “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the

counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1–2, NIV84)

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2. Discipline- Confess

Devotion – confession != Devotion When? Whenever we sin, we rarely do

Two kinds› Spontaneous. “Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24, NIV84)

› Systematic I am a sinner Yes, but what sins have I committed?

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2. Devotion – Confession Quote

“Tell [God] all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart to a dear friend.… People who have no secrets from each other never want for subjects of conversation; they do not … weigh their words, because there is nothing to be kept back. Neither do they seek for something to say; they talk out of the abundance of their heart — without consideration, just what they think.… Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God” – Francois Fenelon

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3. Discipline – Adore 1

Reverence› Concentrate. Luther said, “To let your face

blabber one thing while your heart dwells on another is just tempting God.… Any and every thing, if it is to be well done, demands the entire man, all his mind and faculties.”

Contemplate› Macrocosm – thunder, lightning, stars (Ps 21)› Microcosm – human mind and body (Ps 139)

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3. Discipline– Adore 2

Reverence + contemplation = ...

Worship› Personal expression of emotion› Psalms 146 – 150› Hymns, Spiritual Songs

Adoration -> Submission› “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8, NIV84)› “as You will, what You will, when You will”

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What about your friend?

Quiet time every day?

Bible reading plan?

Have discussions about mind control

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Recommended Reading

Discipline of a Godly Man – Kent Hughes

Mere Christianity – C.S. Lewis

Disciple: Getting your identify from Jesus – Bill Clem

Loving God With All Your Mind – Elizabeth George

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Questions

?

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