Devotion Accountability Project

Yes, it’s that time of year again.  It’s time for end-of-the-year anguish and angst as individuals and businesses review the efficacy of their goals and budgets.  In the overall scheme of things I’m not big on creating New Year’s resolutions at the end or beginning of every year.  I guess you might say that I’ve become jaded over the course of many failures.

On a cultural level, I often think that New Year resolutions have become a joke; maybe it’s because I’m jaded, or maybe I’m just a “resolution cynic.”  I hear talk show hosts, radio show hosts, pastors, teachers, and speakers of all sorts joke about and denounce the sustainability of New Year resolutions.

Does this mean I am against setting goals?  Absolutely not.  I am a big fan of setting measurable goals, and then creating steps and strategies to help an individual or business achieve them.  Somehow, I think Americans, myself included, seperate New Years resolutions from the traditional, serious, goal setting process.  Granted, I realize that I am probably over-generalizing.  I’m sure that there are a few over-achiever, ultra competitive types out there who thrive on New Years resolutions.

With all of that being said,  I do think that the time between Christmas and New Years is a great time to reevaluate my personal progress or personal failure spiritually.  Now is a good time to ask:

• Have I matured spiritually over the year?
• Did I set measurable goals to track my spiritual progress through out the year?
• Am I closer or further from Christ than I was at this time last year?
• Have I been consistent in my daily devotional and daily prayer routines?
• Do I have an accountability partner?
• Do I have a prayer partner?
  

Sexuality and the Male Mind

John Burns

Rough Cut Sermon Notes

Video Link:  http://www.relatechurch.ca/messages-we-can-work-it-out/part-7-sexuality-and-the-male-mind

The Biblical Foundation for Male/Female Relationships

• God has a purpose for Males and Females
• Gen 1:28  And God blessed them. And God said to them (plural), “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28 ESV)
• God said to Them – Male and Female.
• Have sex and fill the earth.
• Chapter 1 is an overview
• In Chapter 2 God breaks it down further.
• God created Adam first…Thus, he was alone with God before God Made Eve.
• Man/men need to learn to be alone with God first.  Men need to establish and develop a relationship with God before a woman enters into the relational picture.
• Men should not depend on women to take the spiritual lead in a relationship or in the area of church activity and church involvment.
• A man rooted in his own relationship with God, can be the man God wants him to be.
• Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:18, 20-25 ESV)

• Going back to chapter 1, the overview, 

1. God asked them to be fruitful and multiply
2. Subdue it, and have dominion over it.

• Being in a relationship with a woman, as a wife, is a blessing given by God.  It is not a curse.
• The relational context of Gensis needs to be taught to our children.
• Sex is blessed only in the context of marriage.
• I Cor. 7:1,2  Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. (1 Corinthians 7:1, 2 ESV)
• Each man has one wife.  Each wife has one husband.
• Prov 5:15-19 – Drink water from your own well— share your love only with your wife. Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone? You should reserve it for yourselves. Never share it with strangers. Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. (Proverbs 5:15-19 NLT)
• Note the singular tense in the above passages:  One wife, one woman.
• Regarding Proverbs 5 – In Middle Eastern culture, water equals blessings.  Replace water with blessing.
• Don’t take your water/blessing for granted.  Don’t waste your blessing in the streets by having sex with others.
• Let your wife be a source of blessing for you and to you.
• Marriage is not bondage.  It is God’s best.  It is freedom.

 

The greatest challenge for Males comes from within.  

• Testosterone make all the difference in males and females.  
• Testosterone has an effect on the way men think – Similar to adrenaline, it causes physical changes.  It is good in the proper context, but it can cause negative consequences if it is not monitored and controlled relationally.
• Males are moved by their 5 sinces
• Every woman desires intimacy, being known and being understood.  Males want to employ all 5 physical senses.  Young men need to learn not focus on the physical nature of the relationship.
•  Guilt and shame is the muscle of sin.  Guilt and shame are the result of relational mistakes; too much physical communication, not enough verbal and emotional communication.

The greatest strength for Males comes from within.

•  A man’s strength comes from knowing and understanding his identity in Christ.
• Love is the motivating factor for Change in Christ.  Christ has given us a purpose
• A male’s primary sex organ is his brain.  Once a man’s brain and heart is aligned with his identity and purpose in Christ he will move in God’s will in the right direction.
• A woman best helps a man by “looking for his greatness.”
• Each man is destined for greatness.  If a woman nurtures a mans call to greatness he will grow.  If a woman disparages a man’s call to greatness he will become a shell of his potential.
• Our world needs heros.  Our world needs men who will stand-up and protect and lead/guide women.
• As a man thinks, so he is.  What a man dwells on is what he will become.  This impacts identity, self-esteem, purpose, mission, and potential.
• Sexuality is a blessing, not a curse.

What is the answer?  There needs to be a plan.

• Where are your strengths?
• What motivates you?
• How will you get from point A to point B. Create tangible, achievable steps.
• Build in accountability.  Involve others in the process to help keep you on track.
• Refuse shame and guilt.  Shame and guilt are tools of Satan, not God.

 

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