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Read the Best Seller "WILD AT HEART."
WILD AT HEART God did not design Christian men to be clones of Mr. Rodgers.
God never intended for Christian men to simply become �Nice Guys.� Everyone knows �Nice Guys finish last.�
God designed us men to be dangerous. Simply look at the dreams and desires written in the heart of every boy: � To be a hero, � to be a warrior, � to live a life of adventure and risk.
Sadly, most men abandon those dreams and desires--aided by a Christianity that feels like nothing more than pressure to be a nice guy. A spiritual Mr Rodgers.
It is no wonder that many men avoid church, and those who go are often passive and bored to death Most of us live in a fog. It's like life is a movie and we arrived to 20 minutes late. You know something important seems to be going on. But we can't figure out the story. We don't know what part we're supposed to play or what the plot is. They look like bad guys and they look like good guys. We live our lives with a sense of universal lost-ness, fog, confusion. We all share that.
When the things go wrong in our life, we think that either we�re blowing it somehow or that God's holding out on us.
Christian men need permission to be what God designed them to be--dangerous, passionate, alive, and free. Every man needs a battle to fight, an adventure to live, a beauty to rescue.
There�s a �wildness� in a mans soul, placed there by the Creator. It�s this constant call to the wild that causes men to jump headlong into adventure, take risks, and sometimes do crazy things. (Show TIRE BURNOUT video here!)
It�s the reason why us men don�t ask for directions, see how many miles we can squeeze out of a tank of gas, and try to get from Greenville to Chicago in less time than Uncle Harry�.who incidentally holds the prized family record. It�s part of our DNA.
We need an adventure to live. We believe that if Christopher Columbus did not need directions, then neither do we. It�s the reason why we build things, especially motorized things, contraptions�.it�s why we like tools, especially motorized tools, and the larger the motorized tool the better. A backhoe is good, a bulldozer is better, and a crane with a wrecking ball is excellent.
It�s the reason why Richard, one of our guys here at church is building a VW powered trike.
It is also the reason why we need the love and admiration of a beloved. We need a beauty to win and defend��it defines us and gives us purpose. We, like the Prince are on a quest to find Cinderella. We will travel far and move Heaven and Earth to find her, win her, love her, and defend her.
We also need a battle to win, a noble cause, a dangerous mission. It�s the reason why men go off to war, risk their lives exploring, climb dangerous mountains, dive to the depths of the sea and blast off into space. We need a fight, a noble cause, a mission��it�s part of the DNA of a mans soul placed there by almighty God. Proverbs 20:5 The heart of a man is like deep water�.�
Howard Macey: The spiritual life cannot be made suburban, it is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
The early Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit "the wild goose." And the reason why is they knew that you cannot tame him. But if you follow his haunting call, he'll take you on an adventure.
"A wild goose chase." That derogatory phrase shows you how much we in Western culture hate mystery. We want a plan. . And I'm telling you, you don't get a plan�..not with an adventure.
1) An Adventure to Live Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. You are created in the image of God�..which means God�s nature, God�s personality, must sometimes be wild and adventurous.
You know why men love adventure? Because it requires something of us. It demands something it puts us to the test. Adventure is written into the heart of every man�.we want to see if we have what it takes. When Abraham was called by God to leave the civilized city life of Ur, to journey to an unknown country, it was the biggest adventure of his life. When Moses was asked by God to liberate and lead his people Israel out of Egyptian bondage�..it was the biggest adventure of his life. When God asked King David to make all the preparations, and gather all the materials, craftsmen, and artisans needed so that Solomon could build the Temple�.it was the biggest adventure of his life. God sends hurricanes and tornados, he causes the seas to roar, volcanoes to erupt, and hail to rain down on the Earth.
Listen to this description of our adventurous God: Psalm 77:15-20 15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah 16 The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. 17 The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. 18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. 19 Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. 20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. God�s heart is full of adventure�.and he placed that same sense of adventure in us. WooHoo! BooYah! A big adventure, like the one that the �Wild Goose� took Moses and Aaron on, is in your future.
2 We Have a Battle To Fight I remember that Christmas. It was the best Christmas of my life�.even today, it is a �Standing Stone� memory for me. (Those of you who come to the Thursday Night "Faith Lessons" gathering know what Standing Stones are.) They were beautiful, 2 matching pearl handled sixshooters, with a gunbelt, cowboy hat, chaps, a vest, and best of all, a matching long gun that featured lever action. As I strapped on those sixguns, my chest swelled with pride��there was a battle to be fought.
Sixguns, superman capes, masks, these are not just the uniforms of boyhood, but the genuine reflections of the aggressiveness of a man�s heart. Exodus 15:3 �The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name��
Have you ever wondered why you like movies like Braveheart, Bridge Over The River Kwai, The Magnificent Seven, Saving Private Ryan, Enemy At The Gates, Top Gun, the Die Hard series, and Men in Black? Do you know why you enjoy TV shows like COPS, instead of watching The View, or Live with Regis and Kelly? It�s the fiercness that God has placed in your soul. Without this aggressive nature, placed in men�s hearts by God there would have been � no victories in World War II, � no salvation for our country during the Revolutionary War, � and no freedom for the slaves during the Civil War.
We need a battle to fight�..a noble cause,�..and a victory to win.
Spiritually we fight battles every day. You're walking down the hall and there's a gorgeous woman. The evil one says, you want that. My good heart says, No, I don't. That's a lie. I desire the things of God. Look what Paul says twice in Romans 7 Romans 7:21-22a, 26b So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. What Paul is saying is this: "So this is not me. It's my battle with sin, but this is not my true heart." Without this aggressiveness, we could not battle sin or accomplish anything.
We are aggressive by nature, we are competitive, we need to win. A game with no risk, no danger, and no winners is ��no fun to a guy.
3 A Beauty To Rescue Romeo has his Juliet. King Arthur fights for Guinevere. There is nothing so inspiring to a man than a beautiful woman. She will make you want to charge the castle, slay the dragon, and leap across the parapets. In the Garden of Eden, things were just not right until Eve came.
You see, men just don�t need a battle to fight, they need someone to fight for. Airmen in WWII gave their airplanes names like �Me and My Gal� or �Memphis Belle.� Why? They had a reason to fight, a cause, she was waiting for them at home.
Remember Nehemiah�s words to the brave men defending Jerusalem? Nehemiah 4:13 "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."
The battle is never enough, a man yearns for romance, he wants to be not just a hero, but a hero to someone in particular. And she needs her hero. Not every woman wants a battle to fight, but every woman wants to be fought for. �I just want to be a priority to someone.� Her dreams of a prince on a white horse are not just fantasy, but the blueprint of God placed on her heart. The little girl standing on the coffee table singing her heart out is really asking, �Do you see me?� And �Are you captivated by what you see?�
Men: Fight for your beauty�.she wants to be fought for. Men: Fight for your beauty�.she wants to be significant to you. There is a beauty to rescue, and you are the man, the hero, the Prince, brave enough, and fierce enough for that battle.
CLOSING: Guys, we are MEN, created in God�s image. There is a wildness about us that is placed there by God. Deep in our hearts, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. This is how we hold up the image of God in our lives. This is what God made us to be.
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Discussion: "Wild At Heart" A message for MEN ONLY! |
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