MEN WHERE ART THOU?
Notes
Transcript
GENESIS 3: 8 - 12
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
MEN WHERE ART THOU?
I want to take men that will listen to
today’s sermon on a journey. A journey
that has to do with where you are and
why you matter. I know we are living in
a day when the importance of men
has been down graded, reduced or
totally removed. Appropriate
masculinity has gone undervalued and
unappreciated. But God is calling men
to a whole new level. God asked Adam
an important question, Adam where
art thou? Sometimes I like to say,
where you at? Because the future of
mankind will be keyed into you, MEN,
fulfilling your God created, your God
designed and your GOD given role.
So today Men it’s time to rise up. I
know that today is Fathers Day but you
don’t have to be a father to walk in the
path that God has for your life. You see
any male can father a child but it takes
a man to summit himself to the
authority and the rule of God. Today I
will start to challenge men to a whole
new level of manhood in your
spirituality, family, community, church
and career that God is calling you to. It
is time for Kingdom men to rise up!
And when God’s men rise up, things
are going to change. When we fail to
rise up, as the Word of God makes
clear things are going to disintegrate.
So now let’s go on this journey
together and see what happens when
kingdom men rise up.
WHERE ARE THE MEN
One of the dominant questions of
today is, where are the men. I did not
say males, I said men. And there is a
difference but we will get to that later.
The missing man has become the
crisis of the day. Not the missing male
but the missing man. It is the question
of the single woman that has not met
a worth while man to marry. She
wants to know Adam where you at? It
is the question of the single parent
that has been abandoned by the
father of her children. She wants to
know, Adam where you at? That child
that has to grow up with a physically
or emotionally absent father. That
child is asking the question weather he
or she acts it out or ask, * Adam where
you at? We are living in a day when
men have become domesticated or
abusive or broke wrist. * And the
question remains Adam where you at?
We are living in a day of terrorism and
violence. Due to the absence of the
conscience and the dumbing down of
decency. Again it raises the question
Adam where you at? But worst of all it
is that God is asking the question,
Adam where are you? Now God is
asking Adam where are you, then we
should not be shocked that we are
asking the same question. Adam had
abandoned his position. He vacated
his post. He had gone awol ( absent
without leave).
The desperate need for today is to
bring all the males back to being men,
as God defines a man. Not as the
culture defines him. I want to preach
to you about answering the question
about the position of a man.
This first thing we need to understand
about a man and his position and not
his location is that his position is a
POSITION OF PRIORITY.
Some people won’t like that but this is
not a popularity contest. It is a
position of priority because in 1
Timothy 2:13 For Adam was formed
first, then Eve. God created Adam first
and then he created Eve. The word
first has to do with order, a
progression in time. Adam and Eve
were not created at the same time.
God spends Genesis 2 discussing
Adam before Eve was ever created for
Adam. Why? Because it would be the
man that would be responsible. God
created Adam first because he would
hold Adam responsible for what he
has been told and for where he has
been placed. Even though Adam and
Eve were in the garden hiding from
God, God didn’t say Adam and Eve
where are yall? He said Adam where
art thou?
Because you are responsible. If you’re
going to be God’s man then you are
going to have to except responsibility
for everything he brings behind you.
2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 because you’re first.
God said in Malachi 4:4 "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 "See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction."
God said a messenger, Elijah, would
come that would turn the hearts of the
parents to the children and the hearts
of the children to the parents so that
I will not have to curse the land. So
while our culture is declining, we can
discuss the hate, the political unrest
and the economical imbalances as
the reasons the culture is declining but
what God says is first. On the front
end where are the men?
Let’s look at this way, if you have a
messed up male (he is out of the
position that God has designed)
then you will have a messed up family.
If that family goes to church it
contributes to a messed church If
the church is messed up and it is
supposed to be a light in the
community, then the community is
messed up. Then if the community is
messed up then the town is messed
up. If the town is messed up then the
county is messed up. If the county is
messed up then the state is messed
up. If the state is messed up then the
country is messed up. And if the
country is messed up then the world is
messed up. So if you we want a better
world, better countries, better states,
better counties, better towns, better
communities, better churches that
illuminate those communities, better
families then we have to start by
becoming better men. Because
it all rest on the position of the man.
Because the man was first he is to
function as the foundation. When you
are building a church you pour the
foundation. Because anything else you
build is dependent on the foundation
holding. If the foundation collapses
everything built on it collapses with it.
If the foundation is shaky then
everything build on it is shaky. The
foundation may not be pretty, it may
not be fancy but it better be solid.
When God created Adam first he was
establishing him as the foundation
and all else depends on him.
In Genesis 3:8 it says that Adam was
hiding from the presence of the LORD
God in the garden. He was hiding from
God in his house. The garden was
Adam’s house, it’s where he lived.
Adam got the leaves to hide from God
from the house that God gave him. He
used God’s blessing to run from God.
Today we have men that want all the
blessings from God but they use the
blessings to run from God.
In Genesis 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. (NASB)
God gave the man a house and a j-o-b.
He was to cultivate it. God didn’t just
give him a job, he told him to be
productive. To cultivate something is
to produce more than what you
started out with. If you are a gardener
you plant seeds and you cultivate your
garden with an expectation to
produce more that what you started
with. God expects a man to maximize
the opportunities that God has placed
him in under his rule and authority.
For Adam this was in his house, the
garden. Adam is a single man hanging
out with God. So God told to him not
only cultivate the garden but to also to
take care of it or keep it. The Hebrew
word for keep means to guard and to
protect. So Adam is to protect the
garden but from what? This is a perfect
world right? NO, Satan is in the
garden. The snake is going to cause
problems. He’s going to stir up some
unhealthy stuff. Your job men is to
keep the Devil out. Cast him out don’t
ask him out. Because you are
responsible for the safety and
protection of the garden. The Devil is
always trying to get in. And if he gets in
he wants to stay.
God gave Adam another command in
Genesis 2:16 - 17. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.” (NASB)
God gave Adam a command not a
request. He gave him his Word. Why?
Because any male that is going
to be a man under God’s rule and
authority must accept God’s Word as
the final say. What did God say about
it? God has the final say. If God said it
then that settles it. Not his friends, not
his home boys, not his mama, nobody
overrules God. Not even his wife.
Because in Genesis chapter 3 when
Adam listened to his wife the sin
nature entered into all mankind. Eve’s
words and actions were not to
overrule what God said. The mans job
was to guard and protect the garden,
to communicate God’s instructions in
his world of influence starting with his
family. Or as Joshua said in Joshua
24:15... as for me and my house we will serve the LORD.
There God spoke of the spiritual death
first. Disobedience broke the covenant
with God. So what was the problem
with the tree in the middle of the garden? It was like a google tree. It had
knowledge, not all bad but not all
good. This tree was full of data. Good
data and bad data, the tree of
knowledge of good and evil. Here is
the problem with the tree. If Adam is
going to be the man that God made
him to be and operating like he is
suppose to then he must live by
revelation and not reason. God is
saying I don’t want your human
reason to determine your actions. I
want you to have divine revelation.
When I want you to know it, I going to
tell it to you. Don’t go out there apart
from me and learn it on you own. The
problem with so many men today is
that they have gotten so secular with a
secular view of what manhood is, not
what God says that it is they have
become dead men walking. We’ve got
the title and we want people to
recognize our title, I’am the head of
this house, I’am the boss, I’m the man.
We want the title without the
responsibility. Adam was to make sure
that God’s commands got
communicated to Eve. Adam
communicated to Eve because when
the Devil asked can you eat of every
tree the one that see knew she was not
to eat from was the tree of knowledge
of good and evil. In fact she was’n even
suppose to touch it. So if your wife has
to ask you are we going to church on
Sunday, are we going to have family
prayer or are we going to say grace at
the table then you are not fulfilling
your spiritual responsibilities of
leading your home. But you will say I
don’t know what to do. Well discuss
the sermon from Sunday. I’ve already
done the work, so all you have to do is
say family let’s discuss the sermon we
heard on Sunday. You are the spiritual
head in your home. And some will say
my wife knows more than me. That’s
got nothing to do with it, it’s who’s
responsible. So God is calling on men
and he’s asking the question where
are you? It not just a location question
but a position question. Many men
have grown up without a Biblical
world view.
And even if you had it, you strayed
from it. God is asking today where are
you as he defines you?
But I some good news for you today
because in the Bible there are two
men named Adam not one. The first
Adam is in Genesis 2 & 3. Romans
chapter 5 tells us that this Adam
caused death to pass upon all men.
But in 1 Corinthians 15 we are told
about another Adam. He is called the
last Adam. The first Adam got us
kicked out of the garden but the last
Adam is a life giving Spirit that can
escort us back into the garden!
The first Adam may have messed
you up but the last Adam can pick you
up!
You don’t have to live down to all the
things that they said about you.
***They even named you a nobody.
But the last Adam can rename you!
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING ILLUSTRATION
MEN WHERE ART THOU?
HOLY GHOST TAKE US HOME!!!
