Becoming a Reman
Notes
Transcript
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come!And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
A new creation, a new life, the OLD life has passed away
For some men, this sounds good, They know this is something they need and while they may have been fighting a seemly losing battle for years and have a certain sense of hopelessness deep inside, there is a part of them that wants to Hope that just such a Turn Around is possible.
There are a lot of men who have started on a path with Jesus and for a myriad of reasons, they have stalled. Their faith is stagnant, they feel stuck, there is no passion and they are constantly struggling with personal sin. The spiraling down effect this has on a man’s life is tough. I lived here for a long time!
Yes, there are some guys that think they have it all together, but in all of my years of working with men, I’ve yet to run into a man where this was actually true.
The healthiest men that I know, have a strong sense of vulnerabilities, a great sense of self-awareness and have learn to draw on strength that does not originate from within them. The a leaders that know how to follow their Shepherd.
The purpose in the series is not to convince you one way of the other. That’s Holy Spirit’s job. My purpose is to simply tell the truth, let those that need to wrestle with it, do that and empower those that are ready to accept it and take some bolds steps do so.
We will cast a Vision for the true Identity of a Re:Man - who is he and how does he approaches every day life.
We will discovery the need for Intent and talk about both the passive and active aspects of transformation
And, last but certainly not least we will discuss the Method, actions we engage in as we partner with Christ in the Ultimate Do-Over.
You are not being invited into weekend conference or a week long intensive. This isn’t a motivational expo where we pump you up, excite you and then in a few weeks you burn out and go back into you old ways.
Jesus has cleared the way for men to experience a life that go far beyond our wildest expectations and while you may not full grasp that or even believe its true, if you keep showing up here over the course of this series and you do more than just listen to put this stuff into action, you will experience , may for the first time what humans were actually designed for.
In most traditions the faithful saints of old spoke of Spiritual Formations Dallas Willard, a SB theologian and amazing man of God defined Spiritual Formation this way “Spiritual formation in the tradition of Jesus Christ is the process of transformation of the inmost dimension of the human being, the heart, which is the same as the spirit or will. It is being formed (really, transformed) in such a way that its natural expression comes to be the deeds of Christ done in the power of Christ.” The Transformation of the Heart in this case does not mean the major organ pumping blood, but the center or seat of human emotions and will, which is also synonymous with the spirit of a man. It’s the command and control center for a man’s life. This is where you get offended or where your anger burst out from. This is where you make the impulsive decisions to engage in sin you afterwards feel horrible able about. It were guilt and shame love to come hang out. It where what defiles a man issues from. In Mark 7:15, 20-23, Jesus teaches about the true source of evil in human life: “The things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.... For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries, an BNP deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.” It think it is important for us to look at the concepts of Heart, Will and Spirit as they are discussed in Scripture so we can get a better idea of what area is being targeted for Renovation and why a transformation is needed to start with.