Wednesday, December 30, 2015

#88 - Man of Covenant #9

The fourth principle of the CIA of being a man of covenant is that when a man of covenant sins, he repents!

By repentance I don't just mean admitting to God that you sinned, saying your sorry, and asking for forgiveness according to 1 John 1:9. That is definitely a part of repentance. But repentance also means to change the way you think to bring about lasting behavorial change in the area where you have sinned.

Romans 12:2 says that we should not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds. This is what true repentance is all about, and how one brings about lasting behavioral change instead of short term behavioral change that comes from just confessing your sins and asking for forgiveness.

And true repentance is a process of replacing the garbage in your heart and soul (mind) that led to you sinning in the first place with what the Word of God says about that area of your life. It takes time, effort and discipline to study and meditate on the Word of God related to the area of your life where you sinned until you have engrained what God says on the matter in your spirit (heart) and soul (mind), replacing what the the world has brainwashed you with.

Then, once your spirit and soul have lined up with the Word of God your body and how you act and what you say and do will line up with the Word as well!

So man of covenant, man up as it were when you stumble, and not only receive God's forgiveness but renew your mind and be transformed, something all of us need to do daily.


Monday, December 28, 2015

#87 - Man of Covenant #8

Principle #3 behind the CIA of being a man of covenant is that a man of covenant strives to live righteously (a Godly lifestyle modeled after Jesus), not deliberately or intentionally disobeying the Word of God (sinnng).

I am not talking about being perfect, because since we live in this sinful flesh we never can be perfect. That 's why God made provision for us when we do stumble, fall and sin in 1 John 1:9. What I am saying is that we should strive to live righteously according to the Word of God. That should be our nature as children of God through Christ, rather than the worldly nature we were born with to accept whatever the world looks at as right.

In Titus 2:12 we are told we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live soberly, righteously and Godly. Further, in 1 John 5:17a we learn that all unrighteousness is sin.

So how do you choose to strive to live your life, as a man of covenant living by the Word of God, or as a man of the flesh following the ways of the world? Or are you wishy washy sometimes choosing to follow God and sometimes choosing to follow the world, a lifestyle that's no better than not following God at all.

Whatever your answer may be, you have a choice to make how you strive to live your life from this day forward. I pray you choose to strive live as a Man of Covenant, righteously, obedient to God's Word, and not sinnfully, deliberately and intentionally choosing the ways of the world over the ways of God.




Saturday, December 26, 2015

#86 - Man of Covenant #7

CIA principle #2 is something my Pastor has taught many times over the years, and that is that the Word of God should be the Final Authority and Absolute Rule of Conduct for a man of covenant (and for every Believer).

But what does this really mean? Well, we see in Luke 4:4 that this means that we are to live by every word of God. Now to me, every word of God means all the words of God, not just the ones we like or that are easy to live by.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us the Word of God is living, powerfull, and can discern the thoughts and intents of our heart, Wow! I don't know about you, but I willingly cede to something that's "all that" to be the authority in my life, guide me in all I do and order my steps.

The bottom line for a man of covenant is that if God said it (His Word), that's it, all you need to hear, and that Word (of God) should be how you strive to live and conduct your life.

Is that what you do, how you strive to live your life each and every day? The answer is between you and God. But the good news is that if you are not, it's not too late! Be honest with yourself and God (who already knows), repent, commit before God to make His Word the Final Authority and Absolute Rule of Conduct for how you strive to live your life, and ask God to help you (and He will!).

Principle three which we will look at in the next Post, goes right along with principle two. So get ready!

Thursday, December 24, 2015

#85 - Man of Covenant #6

Now that you've got a good understanding of the three pillars of being a man of covenant - Commitment, Integrity & Accountability (CIA), let's look at some principles that exemplify these pillars and which a man of covenant strives to live by. The list of principles I will share is not exhaustive, but if you apply them to your life you will be well on your way to being the man of covenant God has called you to be.

The first principle is that a man of covenant is a learned disciple of The Lord Jesus Christ and a student of the Word. By disciple I don't mean just being saved or born again. That's just the starting point. But being a disciple of Christ means catching the revelation of who He is and His way of doing things, and modeling your lifestyle after His, submitting to His will for your life and being obedient to His commandments.

Being a learned disciple also entails making learned disciples out of others, sharing and teaching what you have learned about following Christ with others so they too can become learned disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

Finally, a learned disciple is a student of the Word of God, because if you are going to be like Jesus, you need to learn how He was and lived which you only learn from the Word. Studying the Word takes time, effort and discipline. It's not just reading scriture but catching the revelation of what God is truly saying to you in scripture so you can apply that in your life.

This involves reading, meditating on, praying over and asking God to open up the Word for you; looking at different versions of the Word; finding the definition of certain words in the Greek and Hebrew as well as English; checking with a Concordance or other word study resource; and talking with other men and women of God who may have already caught the revelation of a particular scripture you are studying.

And, studying the Word of God should be something you do on a consistent regular basis, preferably daily, but at least on some regular basis.

On to principle two in the next Post.

We'll look at CIA principle #2 in the next Post.


Monday, December 21, 2015

#84 - Man of Covenant #5

When I was in grade school and we worked on the alphabet, we used to say A is for Apple. But in living as a man of covenant, "A" stands for Accountability. A man of covenant is accountable.

To be accountable is to take responsibility for one's actions, unlike Adam who tried put the blame for letting sin into the human bloodline on Eve, who in turn tried to blame the serpent. To be accountable is to stand up and take responsibility for what is under your authority, whether in the family, in the workplace, in the community or in the Kingdom of God.

Everyone likes to be accountable when something under your authority goes well, which is really a time to be humble and acknowledge those who actually did the work and glorify the Lord. But a man of covenant is also accountable when things or people don't go or do so well. One of my former Pastors used to say as the man you are the head of the household as ordained by God, and when something or someone under your authority in the home or with a family member living under your roof goes wrong whether you caused it or not, you are responsible for dealing with it. That's what real accountability is all about!

Ephesians 5:23 points this out and shows us the order of accountbility in the family where it tells us the husband is the head of the wife (and the children as well) just as Christ is the head of the Church. And with headship comes accountability.

So what does an accountable man of covenant do when he stumbles or something is out of order with anything or anyone (including himself) under his authority be it in the family or home, workplace, church, community or wherever it may be? He takes responsibility for what took place, deals with the situation according to the Word of God, and if he has been lax in his duties as the one that is accountable, he repents according to 1 John 1:9-10 and James 5:16.

A man of covenant, unlike Adam, also doesn't pass the buck, blame someone else, or have an attitude of "well, I didn't do it." Rather, he steps up, takes responsibility and rights the situation. This doesn't mean the man of covenant let's those who were involved off the hook. He deals with them as well, correcting them as appropriate. But he is the one who is accountable.

In what areas of your life and with those under your authority have you been out of order and not accountable as a man of covenant should be? We all have some. So just ask God and He will point them out to you. Then, accept responsibility, repent and get things in order.

We'll start looking at some key principles a man of covenant lives by reflective of his being Commited, living by Integrity and being Accountable, in the next Post.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

#83 - Man of Covenant #4

Let's now look at the second pillar of what it means to be a man of covenant, the "I", which stands for Integrity.

Living a life of integrity is living a consistent lifestye based on Kingdom principles and values without compromising those principles and values for anybody or anything. It's being a man of his word, a man who says what he means (based on God's Word) and means what he says, a man who can be counted on to carry through on what he says and commits to. A man who stands for and lives by the Kingdom way of doing things despite what the world system may say is right or what every one else may be doing.

Proverbs 10:9 tells us that if we walk with integrity doing what is right we walk securely, but if we don't our perverse ways will be revealed. We further learn from Titus 2:7 that we should show ourselves in all things to be a pattern of good works, displaying integrity, reverence and incorruptability.

Being a man of Integrity takes dedication, discipline, steadfast effort, and Commitment as covered in the previous Post. And I would dare say that each and every man if we are honest with ourselves can find areas of our lives where we have fallen short or missed the mark as far as integrity is concerned. I know I have. So let's choose as we read this Post to work on those areas where we haven't been the men of integrity God expects us to be and already sees us as. Amen?

We'll cover the "A" of the CIA of being a man of covenant in the next Post.



Thursday, December 17, 2015

#82 - Man of Covenant #3

So let's look at the first pillar (or term) of what it means to be a man of covenant - the "C".

The "C" stands for Commitment. A man of covenant must be commited. But what does it mean to be commited? Simply stated, commitment means devoting one's self completely to something. In this case to God and a Kingdom lifestyle. As we learn from 1 Timothy 1:18-20, this involves waging spiritual warfare by faith and with a good conscience. In other words being dedicated, earnestly steadfast and persevering to live a Godly livestyle as a man of God no matter what obstacles and road blocks you may face. Not giving up in the face of adversity nor being disuaded from the ways of God for the ways of the world.

2 Timothy 2:1-2 tells us to be strong in the grace we have through Christ. This means to rely on the power and ability of God to stay the course of living as a Godly man and not a worldly man, rather than relying on your own strength and knowledge which will eventually fail you.

These verses from 2 Timothy also reveal that commitment not only involves our learning how to and staying the course as a man of God, but commiting to sharing what we have learned and applied in our lives with other men so they too can become men of covenant.

So are you commited or ready to be commited to being a man of covenant and striving to live a Godly lifestyle no matter what? The choice is yours, but I pray you will to chose to live as a man of God and not a man of the world.

We'll look at the second pillar of being a man of covenant, the "I" in the next Post.


Tuesday, December 15, 2015

#81 - Man of Covenant #2

Let's start by defining what a covenant is - a binding agreement between two or more parties that can't be broken without penalty, injury or death. Covenant also always involves the shedding and melding or blending of blood. A covenent is serious business, and nothing to be played with!

So when we talk about a man of covenant we are talking about a binding agreement between a man and God, cut or establshed through the blood of Jesus.

Now a covenant also has terms, what each party agrees they will do. And when those terms are broken by either party, a price has to be paid or endured by the party who broke the covenant - penalty, injury or death. But praise God! Since he knew fleshly man could never keep the covenant without breaking it, He's already paid for our (man's) breaking of the covenant through the broken body and shed blood of Jesus!

This is not a license to do as we want and keep breaking our covenant with God, for if we do we'll never be able to walk in the blessings and benefits of our covenant with God to the extent God desires us to. This doesn't mean we will be perfect, but we should do all we can to keep our terms of the covenant. But when fall, repent, receive God's forgiveness and cleansing, and get back on track.

So as we learn what it means to be a man of covenant, our side of the terms of our covenant with God, take it seriously, get it in your spirit and live it out in your life, and be the man of covenant God already sees you being.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

#80 - Man of Covenant - #1

What was intended to be a brief hiatus ended up lasting longer than planned, but now I am back and starting a new series on what it means to be a man of God, titled " Man of Covenant".  We'll be looking at this topic from the perspective of a simple concept called CIA and 10 key principles of biblical manhood.

But for now, please consider this quote from the late Dr. Edwin Louis Cole, founder of the Christian Men's Network, which I first heard from Brother Ben Kinchlow on The 700 Club many years ago - "Being a male is a matter of birth, but being a man is a matter of choice". Just because you are born a male doesn' t automatically mean you are a man, just as biologically bringing a child into the world doesn't automatically make you a parent. As with anything in the Kingdom of God, being a Man of God or a parent involves making a decision to die to your will and submitting to God's Will. In either case God won't make you, you have to choose to. And this series will deal with making the choice to live as a Man of God instead of a man of the world.

If you are a woman reading this Post, don't tune out. While it may not apply directly to you it may be helpful in learning some of the charecteristics you should be looking for in the Man of God you are seeking, and/or be worthwhile sharing with men in your life you think could benefit from this.

Therefore I challenge you to follow this series, receive what God has to share on biblcal manhood, apply it in your life and become the Man of Covenant God intends you to be.

I also want to encourage you to tell others about this series, so we can all grow in biblical manhood together.

So get ready, stay tuned and be blessed!