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Forever Brothers Part 2 with Kenny Luck
October 11, 2024 · 1 hr 3 min
What one word comes to mind when you think about God? God is many things all at once but a word not frequently used to describe God is RELATIONAL. Can the same be said of God's men today?
Series Forever Brothers with Kenny Luck October 11, 2024 · 1 hr 3 min · Forever Brothers with Kenny Luck
What one word comes to mind when you think about God? God is many things all at once but a word not frequently used to describe God is RELATIONAL. Can the same be said of God's men today? ...more Show the full description Show less What one word comes to mind when you think about God? God is many things all at once but a word not frequently used to describe God is RELATIONAL. Can the same be said of God's men today?
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Since 2000 Every Man Ministries has been activating men worldwide to live out their truest identity in Christ through its discipleship resources, live events, and steaming platform.
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The Iceberg of Men's Spiritual Battles 0:00 Greetings, men. Kenny Luck, founder of Everyman Ministries. You know, after 30 years of helping men in the mental health, pastoral, and coaching context, the 1 working assumption I've operated on is0:12 this. Men, they're like icebergs. You only see the tip. Under the waterline of the image that they are projecting and the lives that they are living are massive spiritual, emotional, and relational0:24 battles they recognize, but they're just not talking about. And it creates a dissonance. It creates spiritual plateaus. It creates unresolved tensions0:35 within that start to eat away at their faith, eat away at their hope. It opens them up to spiritual attack and lies to the point where so many, if they were honest, would say, I believe in God and I believe his0:47 promises are true, just not for me right now. Have you ever felt that or thought that? Well, here's the thing. So many men I counsel and coach say the same thing. I'm attending church. I'm reading my bible.0:59 I'm going to men's group. I'm praying. But I'm not sensing or experiencing God the way I see it promised in the bible. You know, that abundant life that Jesus speaks of. I'm I'm not breaking1:11 through, and I know there's more. I just don't know how to get there, and it's confusing me. It's affecting my relationships with God and other people. Now, if you've ever felt the same way, if you've ever had any of1:22 those thoughts, welcome to the club. As men, we go through different seasons of personal, professional, and, yes, spiritual life. And listen, that calls1:34 for new Christ formation, new faith steps, new discoveries, and new thinking. You see, there's no big mystery here. The big wheels of life, of relationships,1:47 Christ formation, and of fulfillment turn on the hidden axles of what the Bible calls your inner man. So when the Bible says, watch over your heart with all diligence for1:59 from it flow the springs of life. It's not calling for new outer spiritual behavior management. It's calling for a new you. You say, how do you know, Kenny? Because God called2:10 me personally into a new season of Christ formation after 25 years as a pastor and counselor. And you know what I needed? I needed a community of brave brothers, of2:22 professional men who were spirit filled, and I needed a solid process and godly coaching to walk me into a new place of strength, a place of powerful sacrifice, a place of complete2:35 tenacity in my purpose, a place of growing authentic generosity, and a place of meaningful insight into myself first and for other2:47 people. That's my promise land. What's yours? If you're like me and you want a new place of growth, if you want the dissonance to go away, if you want an inner breakthrough in Christ, if you want to discover what is2:58 it that is holding you back spiritually versus continuing to say some narrative to yourself and other people, just lean in right now. There is a next adventure in God3:10 and in life waiting for you. But the old thinking, the old victories you cling to, the old patterns of living, just the old thought processes are not3:22 going to cut it in this next adventure God has for you. The promised land that he has for you. And that's why I'm inviting you into the every man promised land living experience, where Christ3:34 formation advances in new ways, where the language of the heart is spoken. And where the enemy, he takes it on the chin and strongholds are broken. You want your next3:46 adventure in Christ to begin? Then fight the good fight like I did. Believe. God is at work. Register. Get into an every man promised land group. Our team of trained coaches3:58 are eager to meet you and to start getting you prepared for the greater works of Jesus in and through you for this next season and adventure of life.Forever Brothers: Building Deep Community 4:20 Welcome to the men's global livestream. If you have a bible handy, I want you to hold a spot in Philippians chapter 2. We're in a brand new series called Forever Brothers, and if you're joining us for the4:32 first time, let me review just a bit. In part 1, we poured the foundation for this series by making some simple observations from John chapter 17.4:44 And in John chapter 17, it's Jesus praying to the father and asking the father to take the nature and dynamic of4:56 their relationship and asking him to make sure that that's reproduced in us. He asked specifically for5:07 their intimacy and closeness to be reproduced among believers. And what I want us to know about this series and just about scripture in general is what5:19 father, son, and holy spirit model for us is meant for us. And not only that, Jesus asks the father to reproduce what father, son, and holy spirit5:31 have. He says, I in you, you and me, them in us as unified and as together as we are.5:43 Alright? So the big idea and application for part 1 is that you and I cannot grow in Christ and thrive by ourself. Right? We have to be in5:55 intimate relationship with God and other believers to grow in Christ, to have him form in us, and to thrive and live the abundant life. So from there6:07 in part 1, we just looked at at the battle. We looked at 4 forces that work against us having that kind of deep intimacy with God, but specifically deep6:18 intimacy and community with other brothers. We looked at how sin and self are against us. We looked about looked at how life is hard and there's pain and that isolates us. We looked at loneliness6:30 and the isolating dynamics of being alone. We looked at spiritual warfare. We have all that working against us, but here's the cool thing about part 1. Then we watch 2 forever brothers6:42 fight for deep community in the midst of all those forces. And we see Jonathan and David walk together tenaciously. We see6:54 them speak into each other powerfully. We see them strengthen each other spiritually, and here's the thing, we see them covenant together7:06 spiritually. The exact words is so the 2 of them made a solemn pact before the Lord. And you see the reason why we're doing this series is because at Everyman, we're watching these7:18 movements, these pockets, these little wildfires of men's community coming together that are doing just that. They're gathering in backyards. They're gathering around7:30 fire pits in the community. They're gathering in boardrooms. They're gathering in garages. They're gathering in country clubs, in the spaces and places where men are coming together. You know what they're doing? They're7:40 walking together tenaciously. They're speaking into each other powerfully. They're strengthening each other spiritually and they're making solemn pacts before god with each other,7:53 okay, to be committed to him and to be committed to 1 another and their families. And at every man, we're pouring gas on that fire that's happening. And we're8:05 actually creating a custom space for you as an individual or for your men's group, right, to get to that level of8:16 community that god desires. Now, let's talk about part 2. In part 2, we're going to look at god's word again and I feel like we still need to pour that scriptural biblical foundation regarding8:29 the relational nature of God and how he wants that core part of himself, father, son, and holy spirit, reproduced in our relationships. More8:40 specifically, what his sons, forever brothers, should be experiencing. And then I want to look at 3 pillars, 3 focuses, 3 themes that forever8:52 brothers really emphasize in their community and in their relationships. Look at some outcomes of that and then at the end, which we're going to do in every session of Forever Brothers, just9:03 assess, give you an opportunity to step toward God by stepping toward deep community and risking some action. So let's9:15 dig in. If you have the downloaded notes at the top of your downloaded notes is the Philippians passage that serves as a really solid anchor as we move forward in this series. Philippians chapter 29:27 verses 1 through 5 says this, is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together9:40 in the spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving 1 another,9:52 and working together with 1 mind and purpose. Don't be selfish. Don't try to impress others. Be humble. Thinking of others is better than yourself. Don't look10:03 out only for your interests, but take an interest in others too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus has. So let's make some simple10:15 observations about what god models and how he wants our relationship with him to pour power and connection into our10:27 relationships with forever brothers. So write this down. Number 1, God wants me to experience encouragement with brothers in Christ. Alright? That's the first question that10:39 coach Paul the Apostle asked believers in Philippi. He says, Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? So if you circle encouragement and belonging to Christ, when you're with people who belong10:51 to Christ, you should be getting encouraged. Alright? Secondly, God wants me to experience belonging with others in Christ. Right? You know what's so cool about coming together with forever brothers is that11:03 you share a father. Right? Through Jesus Christ, we belong to the father and and and that belonging creates a powerful dynamic. In fact, I can run11:15 into a brother that I've met for maybe 5, 10 minutes. And do you ever notice the bond accelerates so quickly, just exponentially11:27 faster than if you're with a non believer, right? We need to be relating to non believers, but there's just something where it's like, hey, we're part of the same family, we have the same father, we got the same11:38 playbook, you know, he saved you, he saved me, he's poured his wisdom into you, he's pouring his wisdom into me. And so God wants you to experience that, right? It's called family, right? We11:50 belong as brothers in the same family as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Third, God wants me to experience comfort with other12:02 brothers. Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Right? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? You know, when you get together with with guys, sometimes there's a lot of competing and not a lot of connecting. I12:13 mean, I'm sure you noticed that. It's just ego, pride, image, puffing, you know, like like that's really gonna help a guy who's hurting. But because everybody else is doing12:25 it while he's hurting, he does it too, and he comes together especially in Christian circles of men, where we act more like culture and less like Christ, and then guys walk out of12:36 those connections uncomforted. Let me tell you the problem with that. 1 of the most dangerous things that can happen in your life is for you to walk around12:48 with negative emotions and discomfort related to your circumstances because that discomfort and negative emotions makes you vulnerable to the lie13:00 and the liar and the accuser of the brothers, the devil. Right? And so when we come together, we should be experiencing encouragement. We should be13:12 experiencing that mutual sense of belonging. We should risk bringing things into the light and receiving comfort versus keeping it on the13:24 surface. Again, going deep as forever brothers. Number 4, based on Philippians 2, God wants me to experience connectedness, right? Coach Paul the Apostle is like, hey, if you're13:35 believers, make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving 1 another, and working together with 1 mind and 1 purpose.13:47 Okay? And that's you can tell, when you're with, a forever brother or with someone that just is really knows you, sees you, values you, that there's13:59 a a level of connectedness that just it brings you peace. You don't have to be anybody.14:11 You don't have to pretend to be anybody. You don't have to posture or talk about successes so that you can feel better. No. You can be you can14:23 be yourself. Successful and unsuccessful at the same time, good and bad at the same time, with blessings and challenges in your life at the same time. Why?14:34 Because we know who we are before God. We agree wholeheartedly, and we love 1 another courageously, selflessly, and sacrificially like God loved us. And then we work together14:47 in this journey that is sacred with 1 heart and 1 mind to help 1 another. Love God and love people and form Christ inside. Fifth,14:59 from the Philippians passage, God wants me to experience an attitude shift with brothers in Christ. So here we are, we're talking about belonging to Christ and how belonging to Christ should be moving encouragement,15:10 belonging, comfort, connectedness in there. And then, coach Paul the apostle says, don't be selfish when you're together. Okay? Don't try to impress others. Be humble. Think of15:22 other people, more than yourself. Don't look out for your own interest, But take an interest in others, you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. If you move along in the Philippians passage and look through15:35 look at 6 through 11, it talks about how Jesus, right, humbled himself for the sake of us. Right? Leaving heaven, coming to earth,15:47 taking on flesh, becoming 1 of us, entering the mess, right? Because he loves us. And that modeling again, what Jesus models for15:59 us is meant meant for us. When we come into relationship with forever brothers, that attitude shift needs to move from16:11 self centeredness to, let's just say, other centeredness. Right? And it it requires humility. Right? Humility is not16:23 thinking less of yourself. It's just thinking of yourself less, right? And that's the encouragement from scripture and it's like Jesus. So when the Holy Spirit is at work in16:34 your heart and in your community of men, you come into it and you experience encouragement, belonging, comfort, a deep level of connectedness, and there's an attitude shift, man.16:46 Pride goes down, humility comes up, and then it fosters all of this power and connectivity and purpose as men16:58 are there to become more like Jesus. So question, what is your experience17:10 right now with brothers in your life? We just got a baseline from scripture for what God wants us to experience. How's that17:22 going? And so you may be saying to yourself, well, you know, I come out of there feeling judged, or I come out of there uncomforted, or I don't have17:34 that deep sense of belonging and connectedness. Okay? You might be saying, you know, we talk about sports and politics for an hour, talk about the17:46 bible for 15 minutes, and then we pray, and then we leave, and I'm the same as I walked in there. I don't know. Maybe it's awesome. Maybe you come out of there encouraged and belong feeling belonging,Identity and Community in Christ 17:57 comforted, connected. And maybe guys in your group, it's just authentic and real. Praise god. See, that's where we wanna be. But my sense is because I've been I've18:09 been connecting with men's groups for over 30 years is that this is a a place where, you know, it you come together and then that's 1 level, you come together that maybe a next level.18:21 But there is another level and sometimes, men's groups get stuck here and here and they never make it to here and it's a progression. But I'm just saying to you as18:33 an individual and as a men's group, if you belong to 1, get to here, alright? Use the Philippians passage. Take take a look, alright? And we'll talk about how you can do that at the end. Alright.18:45 So there's another foundational passage of scripture that emphasizes that God is relational, and if you belong to God, he18:57 wants the intimacy and closeness coming from that belonging to him and relating to father, son, and holy spirit to go not just in you, but out from you19:08 into your community of forever brothers. Now, let's let's turn a page and let's just look at what transformational men's community19:22 emphasizes. Okay? Let's look at some foundations of really healthy men's groups. And then again, you can sort of matrix what we're talking about and then19:33 juxtapose it next to your group and see maybe where you or maybe your group, should be headed. Alright? So let's, look at the first theme of what,19:46 Healthy Forever Brothers in community emphasize. The first the first thing specifically is we see how Forever Brothers focus on their truest identity19:59 as sons and as brothers. Now let's let's go to Jesus himself, the father himself, and the Holy Spirit himself to kinda support this20:11 idea of a focus on our truest identity as sons, alright? And to do that, we're going to look at Matthew chapter 3 verses 16 and 17.20:23 It's the baptism of Jesus. Just listen closely, here to these words. Jesus came up immediately out of the water. And behold,20:35 the heavens were open and he saw the spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on him. And behold, a voice out of the heaven20:47 said, quote, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. So let's just20:59 step back, see what's happening. You have a strong moment between father, son, and holy spirit. Okay? You21:10 see the heavens open. You see verbalization for Jesus as a man on earth. And as a man on earth,21:22 what does Jesus need to hear? Okay? This is what he hears. After a strong moment is created, strong name, strong love, strong blessing.21:34 This is my beloved son. There's a name, strong name, strong possessions, strong ownership. He's a son in whom I am well pleased. And so between21:46 beloved and well pleased, we have strong moment, strong name, strong love, right? Strong blessing. God blesses him. So what does father, son, and holy spirit21:58 emphasize here, right? What do they focus on? Well, they focus on identity, right? He's got a strong name and a strong moment and in that strong name and strong moment, he gets strong love and strong22:10 blessing. Now, we should note this strong moment, strong name, strong love, and strong blessing comes before Jesus preached 1 message, heal 122:22 person, and performed 1 miracle. Okay? So it's not based on performance. Right? It is, however,22:34 based on permanence of identity, relationship, love, and blessing. And this is this is this is some serious22:46 modeling because, you know, I've been in a lot of situations with other guys and usually the first first words in in in interacting is like, hey, what do you do? And then that triggers something inside a22:58 guy and he starts talking about all the things that he does and then all of a sudden numbers start coming out and metrics and how good things are going and all that. There's no metrics here. This23:10 is all about relationship, identity, and intimacy. That's it. So Jesus is accepted and23:21 affirmed, right, before he does a single thing. It's it's acceptance without performance. Guys, can I just say father, son, and holy spirit model beautifully23:33 here what should be happening in our men's groups? We shouldn't be competing, we should be connecting, and we should be modeling acceptance without performance. But you know what?23:45 A lot of guys are afraid to get into men's community because they feel like, I don't know enough Bible. I I don't I don't go to church. I don't you know what? Acceptance slays the dragon of all those fears.23:57 Just like, come with me, man. You'll love this group of guys, you know. I'm involved with the group of guys that's changing my life. You should join me, alright? Now, how does24:09 this emphasis of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to me as God's man? Well, let's read Romans 8 fifteen-sixteen. For you have not received a spirit of slavery24:22 leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons circle that by which we cry out, Abba, father, the spirit himself24:33 testifies with our spirit that we are children of god. So, you see in Romans 8 15 and 16, the number 1, emphasis, we're his.24:47 We are his. We see that experience father, son, and holy spirit in the gospels at Jesus' baptism, and then we see how god has reproduced that experience24:58 for us where we get adopted and named sons and then there's this immediate closeness like father and it's25:10 intimate. It's intimate. And then there's that bond between father and son, the spirit testifying to our spirit that we're25:22 beloved sons. How cool is that? In fact, that for me, you know, that that's probably the biggest driving force in my life because my dad was a ghost.25:34 I wanted a relationship with my dad, but because of alcoholism and a lot of stuff going on in in my family growing up, we had 0 relationship.25:46 And so when I became a Christian, the best part of that is that Jesus shares his dad with me. And this intimacy and this25:58 witness like, you're mine. You've always been mine. Even in moments of confusion and disillusionment, you're mine. I26:10 don't have my computer here but on my computer, this emphasis of my identity, I have a little post it taped over on on my laptop. It says,26:21 beloved son of a perfect father. That's who I am. And man, that's a powerful driving force, not just for me, but for all men26:34 who name the name of Jesus. They're beloved sons of a perfect father. And man, that's how community is built. That's what we emphasize when we're with each other. And26:46 we are in a process of living out that identity. It talks about that in Romans 8 29. It says, for those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his26:58 son that he, Jesus, might be the firstborn, listen to this, among many brothers. So you see that we have our big brother Jesus who27:09 is the model in God's family. God wants us to be like our big brother, Jesus, and he wants men who have formed their character27:22 and conduct around the example of Jesus and the spirit of God is put inside of us to pull that off. It's insane,27:34 but it's true. You say yes to the person and work of Jesus Christ and you believe in his person, that he's God and his work for you, that he died on a cross to forgive your sins,27:46 you do that, God does something pretty supernatural. Upon that confession of faith, he takes the spirit of his only son and he puts him inside of27:57 you and begins the process of making you like him. Pretty cool! Now this identity thing, that we28:09 are sons and that God is planting his spirit in us to make us like our big brother and then grouping us together just like the28:21 scripture says that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers. Okay? Sons and brothers. Alright? This28:33 identity thing as sons and brothers, that's worldwide. God's sons and my brothers are simultaneously right now in28:45 Tokyo, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Singapore, New York, London, Croatia,28:56 sir you follow me? And guess what? There's like 700000000 of us. Forever brothers. And guess what guys? The wildfires are starting29:08 to spark. Sons of God, sons united, forever brothers, they're coming together and they're they're meeting in little pockets. Are you? You want to be a part of29:20 that? Well, if you're going to be a part of that, you got to really focus on your truest identity as the beloved son of a perfect father, and that God wants brothers,29:32 many brothers forming Christ inside of them coming together. 1 of the best, quotes I've heard on this identity thing is by Neil Anderson in his book29:44 Victory Over Darkness. And, he talks about the connection between identity and victory over darkness. He says this, understanding your identity in29:55 Christ is essential for living the Christian life. People cannot consistently behave in ways that are inconsistent30:08 with the way they perceive themselves. If you see yourself as a child of God who is spiritually alive in Christ, you will live30:20 accordingly. Next to a knowledge of God, a knowledge of who you are is by far the most important truth you can possess. Wow.30:32 I mean, you talk about putting a nail in this idea. How identity commands energy up30:44 here and physically, which leads to an expression. Can I just say something? You will always live out your self perception.30:57 Whatever your primary self perception is. Whether that's I'm a material man, I'm a thrill seeking man.31:09 I am an outdoors man. I am a business man. I am God's man, beloved son of a perfect father.31:21 Whatever your primary sense and self perception is, you are destined to live out that identity, Right?31:33 Because every identity has a way to be, every identity has a way to believe, every identity has a way to behave. And so31:45 this is fist fight spiritual warfare. If Satan can get you or your identity in Christ diluted,31:57 then he can dilute your energy and he can dilute your expression. So when we come together as forever brothers, man, we're we're hammering identity. We call each other God's man. We do whatever32:09 it takes to reinforce, support, anchor in our group identity as sons and then our identity32:21 as brothers. Right? Second main focus among forever brothers is we are men focused on community as sons and brothers. Right?Show more In this video 0:00 The Iceberg of Men's Spiritual Battles4:09 Forever Brothers: Building Deep Community17:54 Identity and Community in Christ32:32 Kingdom Influence and Spiritual AuthorityComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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