The Courage Men Need but Rarely Talk About

about what it means to be a man, a ton of confusion. I actually love the way that former NFL star Joe Airmen put it in a TED talk that he gave. He said that the three most destructive words that a boy can hear are these words right here, be a man. Those are the three most destructive words a boy can hear, be a man, why? Because boys hear that, be a man, but most boys are almost never given a cleaner, healthy definition of what that even means. We know we want it, we know we should go after it, we just don't know what that even means. No one's given us a definition of that. I'll give you an example, sort of the confusion, I'll date myself on this, but I'll give you an example of two dominant, sort of cultural images of manhood that were around when I was growing up. All right, here's one of them, this guy. You remember this guy? Some of you, you've never seen this guy, but I grew up in the 1900s, and I know this guy. Those were the days when you could buy cigarettes in vending machines, in restaurant waiting areas, you had your gumballs, your pencil erasers, cigarettes. Some of you are like, those were the good old days. I see you, Altoona, I'm looking at you, but the marble, I don't know, the marble man though, I mean, this guy was like a symbol of masculinity, rugged, independent, free spirit, free spirit,

it's the kind of man that trades in his truck to ride a horse instead, and a lot of men made the choice, man, like if that's, if the only price I got to pay to be like him is some tar in my lungs, I'm in. So that was one image, and then there was another dominant cultural image of manhood when I was growing up. It was the complete opposite side of the spectrum, it was this, good old Homer Simpson, baby. The idiot, barely able to put two sentences together, clueless, more interested in hanging out with the guys at the bar than being at home. Here's my point, do you see the confusion that can set in with such a simple statement, be a man? Well, what kind of man? Well, which one? What kind of man? The kind of man that should be quiet and passive because we've fallen for the lie out there that men are dangerous, and men are toxic, and men are the problem with the world today just because they're men, that kind of man. The kind of man that beat our chest and just lash out an anger and aggression in the world because we've bought into the bro-culture lie that everyone else is the problem, not us, it's everybody else, that kind of man. The kind of man that doesn't need anything or anyone else except my horse and my mar burrows, that's it, that man, or the kind of man

that settles for apathy and just sets the bar low so nobody expects anything from us. Guys, it's confusing. It's confusing, but we're not gonna look to culture to tell us who we are as men. We're not looking to culture to take our cues for who we are, we're gonna run after who God made us to be. We're gonna run after the truth of his word and God created men and women. It says in Genesis chapter one that God created us male and female, and if he created us, he gets to define us, and he gets to lead us into what it means to be men and women in his eyes. And so our pursuit, our singular aim, everything we're running after in this series is to become godly men. I mean, God made us to be. And the foundational principle for this entire series is that being a godly man has nothing to do with what people see on the outside, aren't you grateful? Has nothing to do with this. I told you last week, I'm a truck driving, warm movie watching, football loving guy who does not mind sipping good bourbon and shooting things every once in a while. Not at the same time, by the way, just for law and force of people out there right now. And I tell you that 'cause none of that makes me a man. I said last week, it makes me awesome, but not a man.

I know guys who've never watched a sport create art, write music, drive hybrids, and like their skinny jeans with holes in them. You know them too, most of them lead worship at our church. (congregation laughing) And listen, they are some of the most godly men you'll ever meet. Some of the most godly men you'll ever meet. With God, throw all the cliches out the window. Throw all the stereotypes out the window. Has nothing to do with what you see on the outside because all that matters with God is what's going on in your heart. It is your character. That's what makes a man a man. It's the character he wants to build in us. And so in this series, we're looking at three character traits in light of that that God wants to develop inside of us as godly men. We got out of the gate last week with this. This is what we said. Look, the man God made you to be starts here. Godly men take responsibility for their lives. That was a big idea last week. If you missed it, I cannot recommend highly enough to go back and listen to it. Men, you need to hear this. Godly men take responsibility for their lives. And specifically what we learned for their work, the work we do,

take responsibility for their spiritual growth, and they take responsibility to care for the people that God's put around them. That's what we mean by responsibility. And today I wanna look at the second character trait of Godly men. That was last week, first one. Here's the second one. This is what we're gonna look at today. Godly men live with courage. That's what we're gonna unpack today. Godly men live with courage. They live with courage. Now I wanna say this out front. Courage is not a particularly masculine character trait. Some of the most courageous people I know are women. Do you agree? And all through the Bible, we see women lifted up as examples for their courage, Deborah, Esther, Mary, Ruth, Priscilla, just to name a few. But if you're here and you wanna become the man that God made you to be, there will be moments in your life that are gonna require courage. You're gonna have to summon it from somewhere. And the reality is that every man here, every one of us, we wanna be courageous. Like we have a desire to be courageous. The question is just how?

What does that mean? What does that look like? Now, most men think that courage is putting ourselves in positions where we might break a bone. In other words, like, let's just do dangerous things. Let's put ourselves in risky positions that that requires courage. Years ago, I was skiing with some friends and one of them said, Jason, it's time. Why don't you go down the double black diamond with us? Now, for those of you who don't know, double black diamonds are the most challenging of all the slopes. And so I asked them where it was and they said, it's up there. And my heart starts racing. And I felt my body tighten up. I felt my adrenaline kicking in. And I wanted to run. And I wanted to say no, but then I thought, no, you're courageous. You're not gonna let this mountain beat you, are you? And so I said, I'm in, I'm in. And then we're on the ski lift and we're heading up. And as we're on the ski lift, I reminded the people I was going with, I just said, hey, you remember, right? Like today is my first day ever skiing. (audience laughing) And they said, yeah, we know.

And then they gave me this very unconvincing pet talk. They reminded me that I had a solid hour and a half experience under my belt. They reminded me that I mastered that beginner's slope, and I had gone three times down the green slope, and I had even made it down without falling once. They're like, you're ready for this. So I thought, they're right, let's go. We got to the top of the double bike diamond. I went to the edge. It was not like the green slope. It was a cliff. I turned around and talked to my friends, but they were gone, and I did not see them for a very, very long time. Do you know how long it takes to crawl down a double black diamond? I do, about two hours, 'cause I just squished my way down that thing inch by inch. Here's why I'm telling you that. That's not courage. It's not courage to take on a double bike diamond on the first day. That is, say it with me, stupid. And we so often know mistake courage for recklessness. But what I wanna do today is I wanna go to the scriptures, and I wanna ask, but what does godly courage look like? If it's not recklessness, what does godly courage look like?

I'd love for you to turn into Bible to Daniel chapter one. If you don't have a Bible around you, there's some in the seats. Google it, get there in your Bible app. I don't care how you get there. Just get there. Daniel chapter one, if you're using the Bible as a seat, it's page 667, and I want you to see this. I wanna look at a few different snapshots from the life of a man named Daniel today. And if you ever wanna do a deep dive into the life of someone who lived with remarkable courage, man, you need to dive into the life of Daniel. Daniel was a young man. You love God, was devoted to God. And at one point, the land that Daniel and his friends were living in was overtaken by the nation named Babylon, and the Babylonians kidnapped Daniel and three of his friends. They forced them out of the homeland and exiled them to another country against their will. And then, out of all the captives, Daniel and his three friends were selected to serve in the king's court, and so they bring them into the king's palace. That's where you see this moment. This is what happens. Look at verse six, Daniel one, verse six. It says Daniel, Henneniah, Michael, and Azariah, those were his friends, were four of the young men chosen, all from the tribe of Judah.

The chief of staff renamed them with these Babylonian names. Daniel was now called Belta Shazar. Henneniah was now called Shadrach. Meshael was now called Meshach, and Azariah was called Abednego. So Daniel and his friends are taken to a new culture, taken to new land, and already they're being forced to try to assimilate into this culture. They're changing their names, all right? And then it goes on, there's a dinner prepared. himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. So there's a meal placed in front of him and Daniel's like, I can't do this, I can't eat this food. So he asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods. Here's what I want us to start. Here's what I want us to start. Start right here. Courageous men, what does it look like? Courageous men don't bend to culture, they bend to God's word. This is where I want to start, point number one. You need to write that down, write it down. Courageous men don't bend to culture, they bend to God's word. Daniel has to now make his home in a culture and in a land that is resistant to God. And Daniel is immediately pressured by the people around him to abandon God's word

and bend to cultural norms that went the complete opposite direction in the vision that God had given Daniel. God had given Daniel a very specific convictions around the food he was to eat. When the Babylonians placed their food and drink and far from him, he knew if he ate that, he would be going against God's word. What does it say he did? Here's what I want you to see. What does it say he did? But Daniel was determined. He was determined not to defile himself. He made up his mind. Daniel was locked in. Some translations of that verse right there say that Daniel resolved not to defile himself. It means the quiet courage to follow God even when it feels like it's going against the direction of everyone else around you. Courage isn't always loud. Courage isn't always running into fires. Many times the kind of courage that Godly men live with is a quiet resolve. A quiet determination to just do what God says. Even if it costs me something. Even when it doesn't make sense. Even when it puts you at odds with what others want from you. Even sometimes when it puts you at odds with what you want for yourself, but you know what's wrong. Courageous men don't bend the culture.

They bend to God's word. And implicit to this, man can't miss this, implicit to this statement, implicit to this idea is that we know God's word. I mean, it can't stress strongly enough men how important it is for us to be rooted and grounded in God's word. One of the most encouraging things I heard coming out of last week was the amount of men and women who decided to start reading the Bible. I heard so many stories about that. You know, we've got Bible reading plans on the LCBC app. If you don't like, I want to know God's word. I don't want to bend the culture. I don't even know where to start. We've got Bible reading plans on our LCBC app on our website that can help you, man. We make it so simple. We've got Bibles at your campuses. If you're like, I don't even have a Bible. We will give you one because we cannot know God's word without reading it. And the way to determine, when you think about this for a second, the way to determine a counterfeit bill is not by studying the fake ones. Did you know that? People who want to determine what counterfeit bills are. They don't even look at counterfeit bills. What do they study? They study the real thing.

They study the real thing. It's by studying the real thing because we don't want to, and here's what I want to say, we don't want to be dragged along by a culture that is selling us counterfeits, lies about what it means to live. But the only way to know the counterfeit life that's being offered to us by the broader culture is by knowing the truth, by knowing the truth of God's word. I'll give you two examples. Two examples of counterfeit visions for life that have affected every man here. I don't care who you are. It's affected every man in this room right now. It's the lie that we have been sold and it's your manhood is proven and how many women you've had and how much money you've made. And there are a lot of men that I know who are hollowed out shells of themselves because we fell for that lie. So let's just talk briefly about that. Let's talk real briefly about sex and money and why it will take courage, courage, resolve, determination not to bend to culture but to bend to God's word in those areas. Let's talk about sex first. Men, we live in a culture, I know you don't need me to tell you this, but I'll save any waste. We live in a culture that has handed us

a broken and distorted image of sex, a broken and distorted view of sex. First time I ever saw porn, I was 10 years old. I wasn't looking for it. I was looking for crawdads under rocks in the creek. But it was along that creek bed that I looked over and I saw this crumpled up little magazine and I went over there and I said, "What's that?" I opened it up and I go, "Whoa, my mouth dropped to the ground." I was like, "Never seen this. My eyes got real wide." And after I was done flipping through the pages, you know what I did? I crumpled it back up in a figure. And there was something that was planted that day in that little boy's soul. Sex and women can just be used and thrown away. Like a napkin used after a meal. Oh, it's so subtle, what has done to us. And we are caught up in a culture that has demeaned and degraded women as if they are property. Disposable when not being used. But when you go to God's word, you find a completely different vision. When you go to God's word, you find that Jesus elevates the dignity of women and talks about sex as a sacred gift given from God to be enjoyed.

To be enjoyed in the context of a safe, trustworthy, committed relationship between a husband and his wife. Jesus said this, actually Matthew chapter five. He said, look, if your right eye causes you to lust, pluck it out. And if your hand causes you to lust, cut it off. And thank God he wasn't being literal. Cause you be looking at a blind, armless man right now and don't judge cause you'd all be blind and armless too. None of us would have two eyes and two hands today. But he was speaking with extreme exaggeration. He was speaking with hyperbole here to make a point. He wanted us to, he wants to wake our hearts up to the destructive force that lust and sex outside of God's design can have on our lives. And I'm just telling you that because it takes quiet courage, a determination like Daniel, a resolve then in a world that treats sex so casually and treats women as if they are objects to be used. That's not gonna be us, not here. We will not bend to culture. We bend to God's word and it takes resolve and courage to put boundaries over where you go and what you look at online. That'll take courage. It takes resolve and courage to open up to a few friends for accountability to say, man, I don't want to bend to, I don't want to bend to culture. I want to bend to God's word when it comes to sex

and not the lives of our culture. It takes resolve and courage. Single ladies, I'm a sidebar for a second. You find a guy who has resolved and determined that until you are bound to each other in a commitment before God through marriage that he will not take from you sexually, that is a man you can trust your heart with. You can trust your heart with a man like that. Men, what have you resolved? What have you resolved? What have you determined in your heart about the way you're gonna treat sex? That's one, the other cultural lie that's been embedded in the hearts of men is that our value and worth is tied up in how much money we've made and how much success we've had. So as men, we're tempted to spend our lives always in pursuit of more. It's really never enough. Having a lot of money is not the issue, by the way. Let me just say that. Having a lot of money is not the issue. There's a lot of godly people in the Bible who are wealthy. That's not the problem. The issue is when what we have is not enough. It's when what we have is never enough. And so we wrap up our identity and our value and success in the success we've had or the money we've made and for men.

And isn't it true, guys, that the pursuit of more and more usually comes at the cost of the people that God gave us responsibility to care for? The people who pay the highest price in our pursuit of more are usually our families. We chase more recognition, more bonuses at the expense of our kids, the expense of our marriage at times. And look, some of you know this. Some of you know this because you didn't really know your dad because he was always chasing more. And wouldn't you have traded it all away just to get more time with him? Like we know this and there we are, man, we do it because we bought into this counterfeit. We chase more success at the expense of our integrity at times. We chase more stuff at the expense of our peace at times 'cause we're always behind him dead. But we're not gonna bend a culture. That's the cultural narrative. We're not gonna bend a culture, man. We're gonna bend to God's word. What does it say? It says in God's word when Jesus speaks in Matthew, chapter six, he says, look, where your treasures are? That's where your heart's gonna be. So why would you store a piece that says it's so great? He says, why would you store up all these treasures on this earth where it's just gonna all disappear?

No funeral has ever had a U-Haul chasing it behind it. You're not taking it with you. And then he said, seek first the kingdom of God to use the resources we've been given to manage not to build our own kingdom but to build gods. That takes courage, man. It takes courage to lead your family in a way that prioritizes the biblical principle of tithing and bringing back the first 10% of what we make to the work that God's doing in the church. That takes resolve. It takes courage to tell your CPA, you're gonna prioritize your finances around generosity. Now how much you can store up because you wanna seek the kingdom of God first. Well, look man, if you're a man who wants to follow Jesus, you're gonna have to have resolve at some point. That's what I'm trying to say, You're gonna have to make that determination. Guys, I know that some of you who are like, "It's too late, it's too late, it's too late." No, it's not. Today's a new day, and his mercies are new this day, and you can start today, and you can make it determination, and you can resolve today that you're gonna bend to God's word, not culture. Daniel was determined. Daniel was determined. He was courageous because he made a decision

to bend to God's word and not culture. And look what happened. Go down to verse 15, just look down a few faces. Look what happened as a result. Man, I love this. Daniel 1, 15, it says, "At the end of the 10 days," so remember, he's not eating. I'm not gonna bend to culture. At the end of the 10 days, Daniel and his three friends looked, what? Healthier, better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king. I just wanna point something out real quick. Daniel's decision that he would not bend to culture, but to God's word, strengthened him. It didn't diminish him. It actually caused him to flourish. He was healthier as a result. And I say this because I want you to know that God's will and ways for your lives is always for your flourishing. And when we choose to follow God's ways for sexuality, when we choose to follow God's ways for how we use our money, when we choose God's ways by telling the truth, when we choose God's ways to forgive our enemies, and a thousand other things, right? When we choose that, we will experience more freedom, not less, it's not to restrict us,

it's to free us, to experience more life, more flourishing. But that doesn't mean it's easy. That does not mean it's easy. Which is why it's so important to point out one other aspect of that verse we just read. This is the second thing courageous men do. Do you know what he did? Notice what he did? Courageous men surround themselves with other godly men. Surround themselves with other godly men. What did it say? It said at the end of the 10 days, Daniel and his three friends, they were doing it together. They were resolved together. I love this passage because Daniel was surrounded by a few friends who wanted to walk the same direction. He had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and these friends stuck together to borrow each other's courage when it was needed. Sometimes you got to borrow some courage, don't you? In fact, not long after this, there was a law that was enacted in Babylon at the time and it stated that everyone had to bow down to a statue of the king. They had to bow down to the king. And there was these three friends that we just talked about. They were like, we can't bow. We don't bow to anyone or anything else other than God. We can't bow to that statue.

And they were threatened with the punishment of being thrown into a furnace if they didn't do it. This was an incinerator. And they had the stones to say, "Then throw us in, do it, because we will not bow." That's the kind of man Daniel surrounded himself with. And guys, I'm telling you now, Godly courage is a team sport. And if you have even one ounce of desire to be the man that God made you to be, you can't pursue that walking alone. The thing about this way, you ever watch one of those nature shows, you know, that shows how things work in the wild. I always wonder how they film those things. My kids loved those when they were little. So we'd always watch like Planet Earth and, you know, we'd see all these different things. And the things that we always loved though, the highlight of it was the lion hunts, because you're going to see some blood. I was pumped. My kids were freaked out, but I was pumped. And so you're watching these lion hunts and you watch enough of these lion hunts, you ever seen them, right? And you watch enough of these. And what do you begin to see? You begin to see what lions do. What does a lion do whenever they're hunting?

They find the one gazelle, they find the one antelope that is what isolated from the herd, isolated. Because the one that's isolated is the one that's vulnerable. The Bible says that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion. You have an enemy. You have an enemy. Seeking to devour. And a man who's isolated walking alone through life is a vulnerable man. Vulnerable man. Vulnerable to temptation. Vulnerable to regret. Vulnerable to pursuing shadow missions with his life. And buying into the counterfeit. Let me show you a picture I saw this week from our church. Man, it fired me up. I love this. This picture right here. You know, I love this. This is one of the men here at our church. This is baptism a couple months ago. He's marking the moment. He's going public. He's getting baptized. But what fired me up about this was all the other men standing behind him. His Shadrach, knee shacks and Abednegoes. His men who are in his corner. Do you have a few men like that?

Who'd stand by you? I got my Shadrach, knee shack and Abednego. Thank God, that's not their names. Sean, John, Andy, I got them in my life. And here's the thing, I've given them full access They can ask me anything. They can ask me about my marriage. They can ask me about everything with me and Jenny. They can ask me about my money. They can ask me about what I'm thinking about. They can ask me about what I'm watching. They can ask me anything. And they won't let me lie to them. And there have been times I needed them because I wanted to bend. I wanted to bend. And for some of you, the most courageous thing you might do today is to walk out into our atriums at all of our locations when we're done and you go find that banner that says don't walk alone and you're going to get in a group. You're going to surround yourself with some others here. And if you're good, you're like, I know people. I got relationships. Well then maybe it's not about you. Maybe it's about you being the one who stands behind the pool for someone else. Courageous men don't bend the culture. They bend the God's word. Courageous men surround themselves with other godly men. Here's the third thing I want you to see. It says courageous men don't bend the fear. They pray with faith. Courageous men don't bend the fear that we pray with faith. All men face fear and insecurity. You know that right? I know women, you're surprised because we've never told you that. But it happens, man. All men face fear and insecurity. We love to act like we got it all together. But so often we're struggling with insecurity. And you would think that the longer we live this men, like the older we become, the more secure we get. The truth usually is the opposite. Many times the older we get, the more leadership responsibilities, authority we get in our life, the more fears and insecurities actually rise up. Now this happened to Daniel as well. Turn over into Daniel chapter 6. Go over a few pages to the right. Just a couple of pages there. Daniel chapter 6. I want you to see this. He's a little bit older now. In Daniel 6 he's actually gotten some responsibility given to him because he's been courageous. He didn't bend the culture. People actually noticed his integrity. And so the king gives him leadership and authority over others. Now the king's other advisors hated this. They didn't like Daniel. They were jealous of him. So they tricked the king into making a law

that anyone who did not pray to the king and worshiped the king would be thrown into a den of lions to be mauled to death and eaten. Daniel knows he can't go along with this. He can't follow this. He can't pray to some fake guy, this king. And look what Daniel did when he got squeezed. Because this is the moment he gets squeezed here. The pressure's on. He gets squeezed. Look at verse 10. Daniel 6, it says, "When Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home, knelt down as usual in his upstairs room with his windows open toward Jerusalem. And what did he do? He prayed. He prayed. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to God." How do you have courage without prayer? I want you to know this, man. Prayer's not passive. Some of you all have the wrong idea about prayer. Some of you think prayer's the last thing you do. Some of you need prayers like, "Well, prayer's just when I sit back and do nothing." And you don't understand prayer then. Prayer is active and alive. Prayer is the decision that you make to go to battle. Because you go before God and you go, "God, I need you." Because this is hard right now. I don't want to bend right now. And so, God, I'm coming to you. I'm actively pursuing you. I'm going to battle right now. I'm coming to you, the God of all creation, the God of all power. And I'm just asking you to fill me with some courage right now. But I want you to look at the key to this. This is what I really want you to see in this passage. It says, "He went home and he knelt down as usual. He prayed three times a day, his ability to live with courage in the moment." Look what it says, "As usual, three times a day, just as he had always done." Daniel's ability to live with courage in the moment was rooted in the day in and day out habits that he created to grow his intimacy with God. He prayed in that moment. Why? Because he had always been praying. This is a habit. The habits we create today determine the kind of man we're going to be when we get squeezed tomorrow. And so many of us in this series, we're having our hearts come alive. We feel inspired to be the man God made us to be. And you're going to come out of this series with new goals. But I need you to hear me on this, man. We do not rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our habits. And your goals are only as strong as the habits underneath them. And there's no habit that will serve you better in life than the daily habit. I'm just telling you, than the daily habit of finding a chair, grabbing a Bible, hearing from God and talking to God to pray with faith

in the face of fear. Our ability to live with courage in moments where it feels like we're getting squeezed, it's going to come down to the habits we've already created to pursue God. Courageous men don't bend a culture. We bend to God's word. So we've got to know courageous men surround themselves with other Galilee men, courageous men pray with faith in the face of fear. And lastly, this is the last thing even when they are shaking. Move forward with faith, even when they're shaking. Daniel didn't bend a culture, and he didn't pray to that king. And as a result, he was throwing it in the lions den. Now he's ultimately rescued and God protects him from the lions, but Daniel did not know that was gonna happen going into that. Daniel walked into that pit with those lions, not knowing the in-game. And I want you just imagine for a second, I want you just imagine right now that you are walking to your execution, because you've done the right thing. What would you be feeling? My guess is he was shaking. Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's stepping forward in faith in spite of it. You are not going to face a den of lions, more than likely in your life. But you're gonna be confronted with moments that you know what God is leading you to do, and you're gonna be shaking, considering doing it. Guys, there's more times that I could count in my life that I've had a choice in front of me.

Do I move forward with what I know God is asking me to do right now? I know God's inviting me to do this, even though I am shaking, doing it. I've been shaking, knowing that I needed to go, and I need to confess something to Jenny, that I knew was wrong. She didn't even know about it. So I could keep it to myself, but I knew I've got to confess this. This is the right thing to do. I know God's leading me, and I'm shaking. I've been shaking when I knew that I needed to tell the truth in a situation, and lying would have been so much easier. Guys, everything I'm telling you right now, this is all in the last six months. I've been shaking when I was with a group of guys not long ago, and I knew the conversation turned. I didn't know these guys great, the conversation turned to the particular topics. I'm like, I can't go there. I can't talk about this. I can't laugh at this. And I want to be like just like you, and so I'm like, ugh, but that's going to put me it out. How are they going to respond? And I'm shaking, but I know I can't go along with him, man. You know what John Wayne said? I got the marble man and John Wayne in the same day, so I'm doing pretty good today.

Let me tell you John Wayne, what he said. I love this quote. He said, "Courage is being scared to death "and saddling up anyways." It's being scared to death, and you still saddle up, and some of us, I'm just saying that some of us, it's time to saddle up. It's time to saddle up. It's time to saddle up. Saddling up might mean today you decide for the very first time, you give your life to Jesus. It's time to saddle up. You've been hearing, man, you've been exploring, you've been intrigued, you've been learning, and you've been dragging your feet. It's time to give your life to Jesus, to place your faith and your life and his hands, and then to go public with it by getting baptized. And you've been saying, "I don't really know. "I don't know how my parents will feel about that. "I don't know how my family will feel about that." No, you don't answer to them. You answer to God, saddle up, saddle up. Saddling up might mean you stop making excuses as to why you don't have time to serve here at church. Instead, you decide to unleash your purpose by serving, saddling up. It might mean that you do what Greg did in the story that we heard at the beginning, man.

How much courage does that take? To say, when I took off my uniform, I was still hurting inside. That takes courage to reach out. And saddling up might mean you just reach out. It might mean you go and confess your sin against someone that you've wronged. That's saddling up. It might mean you go and forgive the person you've been holding a grudge over. That's saddling up. It might mean you go tell the truth. I don't know what it is for you. I don't know what it is, but do it. You do it. You do it even while you're shaking. That's courage. And God created you and God designed you to live with courage. And He will give you all that you need as you step out and courage. The world's starved for Godly men right now. Starved, man. The world's not looking for perfect men. I'm grateful for that, but it's desperate for Godly men. Who are we gonna be? We're gonna be the man God created us to be. Who live with courage. Refused to bend the culture. But instead we've been to God's word.

We're gonna surround ourselves with other Godly men. We're gonna pray with faith in the face of fear. We're gonna move forward in faith even when we're shaking. And I can promise you this, we're not gonna do that perfectly. We're not gonna do that perfectly. But when we fall, what are we gonna do? We're gonna get back up. We're gonna get back up. We're gonna run right to our Savior who is full of grace. We're gonna move forward again, knowing that His grace and mighty power will empower us to live courageously for Him. I want you to hear me on this, man. I want you to hear me. as proud of the steps you're taking. Men, you hear me? You have a heavenly Father who sees you and is proud of the steps you are taking. And I know you feel ashamed a little bit because you're like, I'm not where I wanna be, but he sees the movement. He sees, it's just a step. You see how much further you have to go. He sees how much steps you've taken and that you're getting up and you're moving an inch forward at a time. Dad, you'll get this. If you're a dad, you'll understand this. Remember when your kids took their first steps?

Remember that? And they wobbled and they stumbled and they looked dumb doing it. And then they took a step and they face planted. And then they took another step and they face planted, but then they got back up. And what did you do watching them stumbling, taking those steps? What did you do? You couldn't stop smiling. You recorded it. You shared it with people around you. Do you know how proud your Heavenly Father is of you? That you're just taking some steps as awkward and stumbling as it may be. He sees it and he is so proud. And some of you need to hear that today because some of you, you never had a dad who told you that. We got a lot of men here that are wounded. And you never saw a man in your life, model Godly courage. You never had a man call you up into greater things that God has for you. And I'm just trying to tell you, you have a Heavenly Father trying to speak into your heart today, saying you have what it takes. Not in your own strength, but with my strength. You have what it takes.

So get up, walk forward, be courageous and know that I will walk with you every step of the way. So I want to close our time by inviting you to do something courageous. If you're here right now and you need some courage to face something in life, something in your face, you just need a little bit of courage. You need some courage to act on a nudge that God's placed in your heart. In just a moment, not now, but just a moment, I'm going to ask you to stand. I'm going to ask you to stand up. Why? Because there is something symbolic about the physical act that says, I'm here, I'm making a decision. I'm resolved, resolved. And I want you to stand because I want to pray specifically for you as we wrap up our time. I'm standing, by the way, if I could sit down and stand up again, I would do it. I'm standing because I got something I need courage in right now. It might be a conversation that you know you need to go have. You're just like, I just need some courage, something you need to confess. You're like, I just need a little bit of courage. It might be a next step.

You need to go out into our issue when we're done and you need to go take that next step. You're like, I just need a little bit of courage to go do that. It might be something that you have been bending to culture on and it's time to walk away and you know it. And you're like, I just need some courage. Big or small, it doesn't matter. You don't need to share it with anybody else. This is between you and God. Big or small, would you just stand right now? I don't care if it's one person. Just stand, I'm going to pray for you if it's just one. Just stand. If you're online right now, you can just type in chat, just put stand. I'm going to pray for you to stand, stand. (gentle piano music) So commendable. So commendable. Take that step. I'm proud to stand with this church. I'm proud to stand with you. You know part of the power of being a church as we stand together. So I'm grateful for the step you've taken, but this church is for you. And so I want to ask everybody else, your church, I want to ask all of you, stand with them to support,

stand with them right now, to just say you're with them, your shoulder to shoulder. But you join me and pray, Jesus. I thank you that you've not only called us up into a life of courage, but you've given us everything we need to move forward in it. God, I pray that we would be known in the days ahead as people of courage. For those who stood, and we just need, we need some courage right now. We need a little bit of, we need a little extra measure of it. God, would you give them everything that they need? Would you speak into their heart right now? For those who stood and said, I need a little bit of courage, would you remind them that they have a heavenly Father that is so proud of them, so proud that they stood. That's a step, so proud of the steps that they're taking. I pray that right now, heavenly Father, would you speak into their heart and remind them that you will walk with them as they move forward, even when they're shaking, even when they are shaking, that they saddle up, that you've promised, Jesus, would you remind them of that? And we thank you, Jesus, that no step we ever take towards you is ever wasted. No step we ever take towards you is walked alone. So in the days ahead, God, no matter what it is, big or small, when we need courage,

would you give us all we need Jesus, all we need surround us with other people who will be godly influences. Give us the all we need to pray with faith in the face of fear, help us to move forward, Jesus, to bend to your word, not to culture. Give us all we need, give us all we need, give us all we need. We pray this all in your name, Jesus. Amen, amen.