Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.
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i want to invite
all men on a journey
a journey that has to do with why you
matter
i know we’re living in a day when the
importance
of men has been downgraded has been
reduced and in some places totally
removed
appropriate masculinity has gone
unappreciated
and undervalued but god is calling men
to rise to a whole new level
remember god asked adam a fundamental
question
adam where are you i like to say adam
where you at
because this whole future of
civilization
will be keyed in to fulfilling your god
design god created and god
given role so then it’s time to rise up
over the next number of months we’re
going to be challenging men to a new
level of
manhood personal family church and
cultural impact
and when god’s men rise up
things are going to change when we fail
to rise up
as the bible makes clear things will
disintegrate
so join me let’s go on a journey
together
and see what happens when kingdom men
rise
we’re living in a day of plotless people
living plotless lives
watching plotless programs
we’re living in a day when people have
surrendered meaning to convenience
and have surrendered purpose
to existence and this
is nowhere seen
as great as it is a dilemma
as it is in the lives of men
the struggle of manhood today
has incited chaos
in every other area of our lives
the refusal or failure of males
to become men as god has defined them
the inability to go beyond their
plumbing
to be able to define themselves
as god defines us
has created havoc
in every level now we know there are
many exceptions
to this rule but the reality is
when you look at the scope
of the decline
of marriages of churches of the climate
and the culture
much of it can be tied to
the absence of adam
men not being in their god-ordained
space
ezekiel 22 30 god says i tried to find
a man to stand in the gap so i would not
have to curse the
land but i could find none
plenty of males but i couldn’t find a
man
jeremiah chapter 5 verse 1 says they
looked for a man
among all the males
and they couldn’t find one
which means it is possible to be a male
and not be a man
the question of the hour today
is are we making our males men
or are we limiting them to simply their
biology
in genesis chapter 18
we are looking at a culture in chaos
in decline and getting ready to
experience
judgment sodom and gomorrah
all of their problems were due to men
homosexuality had become the rule of the
day
they were rapists
and then it talks about they were living
in a context
of social injustice by oppressing the
poor
so you had homosexuality you had
violence and you had social oppression
all of that is in sodom and gomorrah the
bible says
and so god looked down and he saw the
outcry
the evil decline of the culture and was
preparing
to judge it god created the man
first because he would be the one god
would be looking to
first abraham is now in the vicinity of
sodom and gomorrah a decaying culture
as you and i are living in today a
decaying culture
for all three of the same reasons
and he gives him three things verse 19.
i have chosen him
in the midst of this decay in the midst
of this culture
i found me a man i’ve selected him
and i have chosen him for a purpose
how do i know he chose him for a purpose
because verse 17
says shall i hide from abraham what i’m
about to do
in other words i’m up to something and
to do what i’m up to i found me a man
the point is some of the things god
wants to do he can’t do because he can’t
find him a man
he can’t at least do it the way he wants
to do it
because adam is unlocatable he’s in
hiding
the first thing every male needs to
understand is that you have a divinely
orchestrated reason for your manhood
when a man accepts jesus christ as his
personal savior
he is drafted into the purpose of god
but unfortunately many men who even go
to church
don’t even care to know the purpose of
god
and therefore they live distracted in
the purposes of culture
you’re living in the presence of culture
or your own desires
or designs or what you learn from a
father
that did not have god as the center of
his purpose
then you’re going to create aaron
purposes and you will be straight
distracted
from the purpose of god the reason that
adam knew what he was supposed to do it
says god
told adam what he was supposed to do he
told adam
that this is the garden i want you to
work in he told adam
he gave him specific instructions is
that adam walked with god
during the cool of the day before he
rebelled
against god he walked with god so god
was free to
tell him what he was up to god has some
plans for every man here
but he’s not free to tell you what he is
up to
because you’re not walking with him in
the cool of the day you just visiting
him on sunday
he says i’ve got some stuff i am not
going to hide from abraham
because he’s been selected he’s been
chosen for my purpose
so the first thing that a real man what
i call a kingdom man
has to understand is you have a divine
design
for god’s glory and the expansion of his
kingdom that
includes all the other stuff we think
about
work for i have chosen you
god has a purpose proverbs 20 verse 5
says that in the heart of every man
is a purpose but the man must draw it
out
in other words god has already given you
a reason for being
in seed form but you got to grow it
and you can only grow it in pursuit
and in relationship with him
it doesn’t come just because you gotta
have a good education
or you’ve got a a degree or you’ve got a
business
it doesn’t come just because of that it
came to adam because he was
in sync with god and it came
to abraham because he was in sync
with god as a way of life not as a visit
far too many men are living without a
divine
purpose they can talk about their career
they can talk about their
go their business goals they can talk
about their finance but when you ask
them
what is god’s purpose for you they get
quiet
because they’ve spent all of their time
in school and none of their time in the
kingdom
kingdom men what’s holding you back have
you let the pain of the past break you
are you broken down are you on the
ground or are you better than what’s
behind you
tony evans brand new and long-awaited
sequel to kingdom man
kingdom men rising gives you the power
to break what’s broken you
to lift you from the ashes of life’s
flames
our world needs you your community needs
you
your family needs you and with kingdom
men rising
you can gain access to the tools you
need to rise up
and overcome the opposition ahead no
more losers limp
no more regret rise up and fight for
what is yours
for what is ours kingdom men we rise
together
find out more at tonyevins.org
second thing he says in verse 19
so that okay all the men i want you to
say so that
okay in other words i chose him man this
is what i want him to do
so that he may command his children and
his household after him
to keep the way of the lord and to do
righteousness and justice
okay so let me let me clarify a
misunderstanding
the misunderstanding is that it’s the
woman’s job to raise the children
that may come from the culture it
doesn’t come from the scripture
it says i command abraham
to raise the children
and to teach them righteousness and
justice
ephesians 6 4 says fathers
raise your children
in the bible it is the job of the man
to raise the children not the woman
deuteronomy chapter
4 verse 9 deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 6
and 9
teach your sons and your grandsons why
didn’t they say your daughters and your
granddaughter
why does he say why did all his sons and
sons and sons
are so much in the in the scripture not
because the
daughters weren’t important but because
the sons were to be prepared
to replicate the father in the families
that they themselves
established so pour into the sons
because in most cases if you get the men
straight
over time the women have been built to
come along
but when men refuse to be what god wants
them to be
it creates havoc in the home and in the
relationship
our kids are not a lost generation
they’re the product of a lost generation
of abandoned men
men who can tell you everything about
football
and nothing about scripture
men who can quote statistics but can’t
quote a verse
men who would never ever miss a practice
or a game but can’t get their kids
up to go to church
because everything is out of whack
but at the same time they say i want god
to do this and god to do that
you can’t miss so that i chose you so
that
because if we’re going to fix the
culture
he says we can’t skip the family to fix
the culture
are we gonna fix the white house and you
can’t even control your house
and what are you to teach them
righteousness and justice
righteousness is your vertical standing
before god
that’s your walk with god that’s living
to please god setting
a spiritual standard in the home that
that everybody knows about that that
that it’s not vague
and then he’s to teach justice
righteousness is your
obedient walk with god
justice is your equitable treatment of
man
justice is horizontal righteousness has
to do with the vertical relationship
that’s how you deal with people he says
you are to teach them justice
how to be equitable how you treat people
how you respect people
how you honor people how you’re fair to
people
you teach them that that’s supposed to
come in the house
and so he says that this is the
responsibility
of the father secondly of all
that’s why he says he made man the
stronger vessel
because you should be able to bear more
weight
see the nature of a foundation is not
how pretty it is it’s how much weight
can it hold
not how nice it looks you don’t go
looking at foundations
you just want to know is it solid or is
it cracked
so the first thing is there is a purpose
there is a destiny for a man
there is a responsibility of discipline
and discipleship
for a man
and then the third thing
at the end of verse 19 he says so that
let me hear the men say so that
now this is our second so bad the first
so that
was so that you could get your purpose
the second so that is so that
god would now bring your purpose
one is for you to know it the other is
for him to bring it
look at what he says so that the lord
may bring
you see that bring it
upon abraham what i have spoken about
him
see you got men wanting god to do stuff
but he said i can’t bring that yet
because you ain’t doing what i told you
to do you want me to give you something
bigger and you ain’t handling the
smaller
you no i ain’t bringing it yet so then
we go out there and we try to make it
happen ourselves
and then we mess other stuff up
he says so that i may bring upon abraham
what i have promised to him what had he
promised abraham watch this watch this
man you don’t want to miss this
he says verse 18 since abraham will
surely become a great and mighty nation
and in him all the nations of the earth
will be blessed no you did
ent he says
guess what i’m gonna bring abraham i’m
gonna make him a great nation
i’m gonna make him a mighty nation in
fact
through him everybody else gonna be
better off through him
all the nations of the earth will be
blessed
so let me tell all the men here
something you need your seatbelt for
this one
it’s okay to want to be great
in fact you’re sinning if you don’t want
to be great
greatness is built in to the dna of
manhood
the problem is they don’t want to win
god’s way they want to win
their way we want to win our way
it’s okay to want to be great
he says i’m a make of abraham a great
and mighty nation but guess what
i’m gonna do it now you know how freeing
that is that god’s gonna bring it and i
don’t have to fight to get it
you know how free that is that god is
gonna invade my circumstances
when i’m in relationship with him
submitted his authority
walking with him prioritizing him
fulfilling my responsibilities
to those who are in my scope of
influence and let me show you something
else in chapter 17
in chapter 17 talking about fulfilling
his scope of influence
it says in verse 6 26 in the very same
day
abraham was circumcised and ishmael his
son all the men of his household
who were born in his house or bought
with money from a foreigner
were circumcised with him so he not only
took care of his kids
any man in his vicinity he affected
so the question is what do men think
when you show up
do they see a real man or they just see
one of the crowd
do they see somebody who’s taking a
stand under god
or he’s just another cultural icon
does he see somebody who’s buffed in the
weight room
but wimpy
when it comes to decisions of life
he says he affected all the men
in his vicinity
not just his kids and so god wants you
to be a man of influence
he wants you to be great you don’t just
want to just pass through here
you want to you want to make whatever
mark god has
for you on the world that he gives you
now ladies your job is to make it easy
for him to do that
don’t work against his roar
encourage it as long as it is a
righteous roar
a godly roar but encourage him to be
all that god has created him to be using
all that god
has given you so he can become what god
expects
of him to become
i know i understand i understand
you say that’s not where i am i’ve blown
it you know i got kids i don’t know i
i get kids i get to take care of i’ve
been divorced i’ve got been
on and on and on and on what am i going
to do what am i going to do i got that i
got that
i got yesterday doesn’t look good
but when adam blew it god redeemed him
when adam blew it god cut some animals
open made some cloth of skin and
he redeemed him so if you are serious
you’re
not beyond changing the rest of your
story
that part of your story you can’t fix
but don’t let what happened yesterday
ruin your tomorrow
become the man god wants you to be his
name was thomas anderson the movie is
called the matrix
the matrix the matrix reloaded the
matrix revolution
three of them thomas anderson
aka neo
neo is a computer program a part-time
computer hacker
but through a series of circumstance he
gets whipped away to a
computer-generated reality
called the matrix when he gets wixed
away to the matrix
he runs into a man named morpheus
and morpheus says neo we’ve been waiting
for you
we have been waiting for you there is a
war back here
he says there’s a war between the people
in zion
and the machines and there is this war
and we have been looking for a
conquering hero
we have been waiting for you neo because
you are the one
you are the one that we’ve been counting
on to change the trajectory
of what’s happening back here in this
world
he explains to him all the dynamics
of this new way of thinking and living
and then he offers him a choice
he says neo in this hand i have a blue
pill
if you eat this blue pill then
you’ll wake up in your bed tomorrow and
this will only be a dream
if you eat from this blue pill you’ll
just
you’ll just think that this was just a
thought that came across your mind
and then you’ll go back home to your
plain ordinary life
but in this hand neo i got a red pill
if you take this red pill you will now
enter into the real world
if you take this red pill you will enter
into
a life you never thought possible if you
take this red pill
you gonna have powers
that you never dreamt of if you take
this red pill
you’re gonna fall in love with a woman
named trinity
that you that you could only have dreamt
of you’re gonna get a
relationship you never dreamt of if you
take this red pill
you’re gonna have a problem cause
there’s a dude up here name mr
smith and he can replicate himself over
and over again and he’s going to try to
stop you
but because you took this red pill
you’re going to be able to overcome mr
smith
so the question is which pill do you
want
do you want to leave here and go back to
your plain old ordinary manhood
or do you want to leave here or stay
here and get this thing
done so that you become the person you
were created to be
we’ve been waiting on you neo but it’s
your choice
what bill you take so i want to say to
all the men here today
i got two pills in this hand i got a
blue pill
and you take this blue pill and you go
home to your plain old ordinary life
you go back to your plain ordinary job
and you live your plain or ordinary way
but in this hand i got a red pill and if
you take this red pill
you’re gonna find power that you did not
have ability that you did not possess
strength that you did not own and a new
relationship
that you didn’t think possible neo took
the red pill
and then norfolk says okay now let’s see
how far this rabbit hole goes
so i want to see if i have some men here
who’ll take the red pill and they’ll say
i will be god’s man
for god’s standard for god’s glory
i will become the man of my house i will
influence my realm
and be the man that god created
me to be come on somebody
did you know that every man
has been drafted by god to fulfill a
role in his kingdom every man has been
called
to a post of responsibility
under his leadership to be an
impact influencer in the sphere
in which he’s been placed every man has
been called to face
opposition challenges
and to overcome them so that
god’s purposes can be fulfilled in
history
through the life faith carriage
conviction determination
of kingdom men you’ve been drafted
you’re not to sit in the stands or on
the bleachers
god is calling his men to get in the
game
so that he can bring healing to a nation
and a culture in crisis so let’s
leave our passivity behind let’s make
the decision as god’s men
to accept the call to be on his team
to play for keeps and to play
to win
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