Where are we at today?

State of the Country:

* Only 5% of Christian men have a best friend (Promise Keepers)
* Average amount of time a child spends in front of media = 38 hours per week (Kaiser Family Foundation)
* Average daily time a father spends one-on-one with a preschooler = 37 seconds per day (Focus on the Family)
* Total time a father works in his lifetime (accumulative hours) = 12 years (National Center for Fathering)
* Total time a dad talks with his child in his lifetime (accumulative hours) = 11 days (National Center for Fathering)
* 24 million children live absent their biological father (National Fatherhood Initiative)
* 40% of those have not seen their father at all in the past year (National Fatherhood Initiative)

State of the Church:

* Over 350,000 churches in America (George Barma)
* 80% of youth active in evangelical churches believe that truth is relative, not absolute (Josh McDowell)
* 85% of lay leadership in the churches in America are women (George Barma)
* 75% of bible study leaders are women (George Barma)

Impact of Men in the Church:

* 93% of families will join a church if the dad/husband is first to connect to the church
* 1 out of 1,152 marriages end in divorce when the couple pray together daily
* Church Attendance:
* If mother and father attend regularly
* 33% of children will attend regularly
* 41% of children will attend sporadically
* 25% of children will NOT attend at all
* Mother attends regularly, Father attends sporadically
* 3% of children will attend regularly
* 59% f children will attend sporadically
* 38% of children will NOT attend at all
* Mother attends regularly, Father does NOT attend
* 2% of children will attend regularly
* 37% f children will attend sporadically
* 60% of children will NOT attend at all
* If Father attends regularly, Mother sporadically
* 38% of children will attend regularly
* 37%f children will attend sporadically
* 26% of children will NOT attend at all
* If Father attends regularly, Mother does NOT attend
* 44% of children will attend regularly
* 22% f children will attend sporadically
* 34% of children will NOT attend at all

We are called to be Men of God:

1.) We must build ourselves to be Men of God! We must get into the Word!

God has a lot to say about why we should get into the Word, and the benefits that are available to us by staying in the Word of God.

Joshua 1:8 – This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.

Proverbs 4:20-22 – My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. 21 Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh.

John 15:3 – You are cleansed andpruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].

Psalm 119:9 – How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed and keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to it].

John 15:7 – If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

Acts 20:32 – And now [brethren], I commit you to God [I deposit you in His charge, entrusting you to His protection and care]. And I commend you to the Word of His grace [to the commands and counsels and promises of His unmerited favor]. It is able to build you up and to give you [your rightful] inheritance among all God’s set-apart ones (those consecrated, purified, and transformed of soul).

1 Peter 1:23 – You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by theever living and lasting Word of God.

Matthew 4:1-11 – Jesus himself spoke of the importance of the Word of God when He was being tempted by the devil.

1 Peter 2:2 – Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst for, earnestly desire) the pure (unadulterated) spiritual milk, that by it you may be nurturedand grow unto [completed] salvation,

Psalm 119:98-100, 102-103 – You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies, for [Your words] are ever before me.99 I have better understanding and deeper insight than all my teachers, because Your testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the aged, because I keep Your precepts [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them].102 I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, for You Yourself have taught me.103 How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Acts 17:11 – Now these [Jews] were better disposed and more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they were entirely ready and accepted andwelcomed the message [concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] with inclination of mindand eagerness, searching and examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

John 15:10-11 – If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live on in His love.11 I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and completeand overflowing.

1.) Hearing the Word

Romans 10:17 – Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

Amplified (Rom 10:17) – So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself).

* Most ofte happens on Sunday morning
* Provides insight into another person’s study of the Word
* Can also be through teaching CDs, podcasts, TV, etc.
2.) Reading the Word

* Develop a broad understanding of scripture
* Get acquainted with the Bible

3.) Studying the Word

* Makes it personal
* Personal discovery of God’s truths and principles
* Studying in a small group can lead to personal application and life change

4.) Memorizing the Word

Psalm 119: I have hidden your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
* Gives the tools needed for battle and for mission
* God has missions for each of us – we need to be equipped for those
*

5.) Meditating on the Word

Hebrews 4:12: The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

* We must think about the meaning of the passage
* What does it mean for me?
* How does it relate to my life?
* What is God saying to ME?
* Meditating on scripture in this way allows us to apply the principles and truths found to our lives.

2.) We must discipline the flesh:

1 Corinthians 9:27 – But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].

* We must learn to tell our flesh “NO”
* Athletes discipline their bodies, not because it feels good, but because they have a goal that they want to attain. This is what drives them on.
* We need to see the goal – conforming to the image of Christ – and staying in the Word will help us to see that goal clearly.
AMP: 2 Cor 3:18 – And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.