Men’s Place
SCRIPTURE FOCUS MARCH 2025
1 Corinthians 16:13 - Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong
Monthly Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
I come before you, my rock and fortress, my ever-present help in times of trouble. Lord, give me the courage to face all challenges confidently, knowing you are with me.
Strengthen me in my ignorance and weakness, and empower me to complete the tasks and responsibilities you have given me. I trust your promises and rely on your grace to overcome any obstacles. May your Spirit fill me with courage so that my life may glorify you in all things.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
From Steve’s Desk:
1 Timothy 3:2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
So how do I start this manly portion of the website and do justice to the men of God, while also teaching those who don’t know God? I suppose I should take it to task just as I do when I am preaching/teaching in the sanctuary to people of different levels of Christian maturity and taking into consideration the saved and un-saved; prayerfully and carefully.
A man should live prayerfully and carefully as well. The world is watching. The wives are watching. The kids are watching. Men, we live in the proverbial glass house and there are no curtains, shades, or films of tint. We live in front of others most times of the day, and if they know we claim to be children of God, rest assured they are clocking our walk to see if we are walking the walk!
Real men were made by almighty God for His purposes. Here are some of His design’s expected communicable attributes. This list is not exhaustive by any means, but it is a lot to consider.
1. A real, authentic, man of God is someone who is loving, faithful, and devoted to God. He is also someone who is responsible for his family, protects others, and controls his passions.
2. He is Loving: A real man loves God, his family, and others - selflessly.
3. He is Faithful: A real man is faithful to His family and commitments and to God and His truth.
4. He is Responsible: A real man provides for, protects, and serves his family – sacrificially.
5. He is Controlled: A real man controls his emotions and passions through actual effort and works of faith, through the Holy Spirit.
6. He is Godly: A real man follows God with compassion and leads with confidence – in humility.
7. He should have a Clear-Conscience: A real man thinks clearly and has a clear conscience in Christ Jesus.
8. A real man is watchful and vigilant against danger.
9. A real man is brave in the face of opposition.
10. A real man is persistent through trials.
11. A real man is not defined by his sex-life or the looks or stature of his body.
12. A real man treats his wife with love, respect, and dignity.
13. A real man does not abuse women or children.
14. A real man takes the Great Commandment seriously.
Wow! I look at these and think, “Am I ALL of this?”, hardly. Humility is also something us men MUST embrace and exude. We are not to be cowards, sluggards or act like smug, whining little children, but we must recognize and mark our weaknesses so that God can give us the strength. Godly men ARE overcomers if we follow the model Jesus has given us.
So, I am going to study some of these attributes of Godly men and think about my next Men’s Bible Studies and how to incorporate some of this content into them. Being a true man of God is not easy. But then, God made us to have dominion, to rule and to lead others to thrive and have victory! Easy is not in a man’s DNA.
This month let us consider all the things God has put into us as men and just be amazed that He became a man as well, the only perfect man. “Lord, help us be more like you!”
Men of the Bible
Noah was a man against the men of the world, obeying God and NOT mankind in their doubt and sin.
NOAH
Noah was an obedient servant of God in the Old Testament who found favor with God amidst a sinful world. He is most well-known for building an ark that preserved himself and his family, as well as representatives of every land animal, from a great flood that God unleashed in judgment upon the earth.
The name Noah means “rest.” It derives from the Hebrew נוח (nuah), to rest. The name could also mean "comfort." It may seem ironic because the story of Noah involves neither of these things. After all, God floods the earth, and that doesn't seem like a whole lot of rest or comfort for its inhabitants. But perhaps this name can remind us of the feeling that Noah's family likely felt when at last the Flood waters receded and that God comforted them with a rainbow, reminding them that he would never flood the entire earth again.
Noah had unwavering faith and godly fear to build an ark when God warned him about a flood he had not yet seen:
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith” (Hebrews 11:7).
Noah is numbered as being amongst three of the most righteous men in the book of Ezekiel, alongside Job, and Daniel:
“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness” (Ezekiel 14:20).
FN christianity.com
Act Like Men
God has called men, to be men, to the principles and godly character of man-hood!
The Call to Manhood
Owen Strachan
Boys today are lagging in nearly every statistical category: they’re earning fewer college degrees, they’re working fewer full-time hours, and they’re landing in special education at staggering rates. The solution in the broader culture seems to be to lower expectations for young men. They have no sense of who they are. Perhaps worst of all, they have no one to call them to maturity. Countless boys receive no training in manhood.
We have a better picture of fathers and sons in Scripture. David surely failed his sons in many ways, but he also provided them with sound guidance. At the close of his life, he called his son Solomon to him and gave a charge that crackles with electricity: “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes . . . that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn” (1 Kings 2:1–3).
Manhood as defined by David relates to two key matters: courage and character. David, a warrior after God’s own heart, called his son to be “strong.” In doing so, he would reveal himself to be a man. As we read this poignant counsel, we cannot help but think of a scrawny young Israelite who marched out to battle against Goliath when no trained soldier would. David knew of what he spoke.
But strength for its own sake would not do. The manly fearlessness Solomon was to display had to be grounded in holiness. The young man was to “keep the charge” of Yahweh, a point enforced by David’s enumeration of God’s moral decrees. If there was a commandment, a rule, or a teaching of any kind that gave counsel to the godly, Solomon was to obey it. This alone would lead to prosperity of both a personal and monarchical kind.
Young men today need just such a summons. We must not assume that our sons will blindly stumble onto the path of righteousness. We cannot leave them to discover it without our aid. We must shepherd them, calling them to be men without apology or qualification.
Our training of our sons revolves around the transmission of godliness. We cannot save our children, but we can, by the grace of God, give continual effort to lovingly shape their hearts. We can raise them up in the nurture and admonition of God. We can show them that holiness, and not secular hedonism or any other worldly pursuit, is the good life.
Fathers, take responsibility for your sons and, as David did, summon them to godly manhood. As you do so, remember a Father and a Son who love one another perfectly. Recall not only a kingly commission, but the blessing of God on Christ: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). Here was a young man who knew His Father’s love, who answered His Father’s call, and who fulfilled His Father’s plan through death, even death on a cross.