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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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Wired for Aggressive Contribution 0:00 Alright. Hands up. Hands up. We're coming out of our corner. The bell is about to ring. Father god, thank you so much for letting us, know that we are wired by you to take risks.0:15 Were little boys jumping off stuff and jumping over things and and jumping into things and doing risky things, that you put that desire in us. And now we finally have discovered, Lord,0:27 through a relationship with you, the context with which that wiring has meaning. You want us to adventure and take risks for you, Jesus. So we don't wanna save our0:39 lives live for self. We want to lose it for you. So thank you, God, that with the right view of you, identity settled, sacrificial mentality, the kingdom is gonna advance in0:50 us and through us. Aggressive conviction. We're going to love you and love people no matter where we are, no matter what the issue. But God, we know1:02 through what you taught us last session cracked pots in which to hold your treasure, but you want those pots clean, spiritually.1:14 And so, Lauren, we jettisoned this in. Thank you for giving us a moment to come clean so we can get clean. So, God, we receive the power of those convictions and the light and the word and the1:26 spirit. And now we're gonna move from having aggressive convictions and being clean to aggressive contribution because that's what you've called us to. And all God's men said, amen.1:38 Alright. Aggressive convictions put you in a position of purpose. Say purpose. Purpose. K. Your convictions define your purpose. Aggressive confession puts you in a position of power. Say power.1:50 Power. Now what we're gonna look at is aggressive contribution. Write that at the top of the page right there. It's time for aggressive contribution, and that puts you in a position2:02 of impact. It's 1 thing to have convictions. It's 1 thing to have a clean character to hold those convictions, but the end game is not for you to have good convictions or to be2:14 clean. The end game for God is for you to have a blast zone of influence. I'm gonna go back to the verse that Saran quoted Romans 5 19. Just as through the disobedience of the2:26 1 at 1 man, many were made sinners, So 1 to many negatively. So also through the obedience of the 1 man, many will be made righteous. 1 to many. God has2:37 hardwired you for contribution and significance and influence. 1 man creating a blast zone to many. Of about 200 friendships and relationships2:49 right now. Immediately, you have a blast zone of influence whereby you can, make your contribution. So it's time for aggressive contribution. And what we're gonna3:01 do is we're gonna make the case again for why we need to do this. So let's look right below. It's time for aggressive contribution. The 1st reason why it's time to take your convictions and3:12 your character and make a contribution is this. God has an assignment only you can fill. God has an assignment that he created you uniquely to3:24 fill. No matter what your position is, no matter what your color is, no matter what your economic status is, no matter your gender, God does not create stuff3:36 for no purposes. He makes people for a purpose. And God makes every man as an instrument to put in his hand to3:48 advance the kingdom. Aggressive contribution while you're here on Earth. It's because there's an assignment that only you can fulfill. And I know for some of you, you're just4:00 going, wait a minute. Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. You don't know who I am. Oh, yes. I do. You're a man of God. You're a child of God. You're put into this section of history at this moment, in this time, with your set4:10 of relationships to fulfill your assignment. Say my assignment.4:17 My assignment.4:18 Only you have your assignment. I can't do your assignment for you. I don't have your network of connections and relationships and workplaces and influences and money and and social interactions. Only you4:30 and your network, you are4:52 to show you as you step up and into that mission that only you can fulfill, he wants to meet you at a place of faith and show you. Up before5:04 you as you show up with your humility and your faith. The 3rd reason you need to consider aggressive contribution is because the mission he has for you is attached5:16 to his purposes. It's attached to his purposes versus whose purposes? My purposes. That's right. And that's where, God has5:28 permission because he created you to mess with your dream in order to fulfill his dream for your life. And some of you are coming kicking and scratching because since you were little or5:40 maybe since you were in your twenties or maybe because of the trajectory of your business, you had this this parachute, this plan, this runway, this organized connected sequence of events, and5:52 God has thrown a little grenade into your plan. Well, that's because he has permission. You know how pastor Chris said, well, I can go long because I'm the pastor. Well, God has permission to6:04 mess with your dream because it's his dream that ultimately you take with you to eternity. And that's the 1 you want anyway. Say, I want God's6:16 dream6:16 God's dream.6:17 For my life. For my life. Okay. So some of you, it's it's it's letting go of your small dream to embrace God's big dream, something else that he's doing. And there's that tension again. The man who6:29 seeks to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will find true life. So the mission he has for you is attached to his purposes versus6:40 yours. The mission next that he has for you is accomplished by faith. When God calls God's man to a mission, he doesn't show him the whole6:52 picture all in advance. If God had shown me 10 years ago when I wrote the business plan for Everyman Ministries, what was gonna go down, I would have ran from that. Because it's been an up and down7:04 journey of faith and cul de sacs without without any outlets, and I'm stuck in red sea moments. But God has met me in each of them. And we went from 27:16 little tables in a tent to 2000000 men in in 10 years. And I'm not I'm not saying that because of metrics. I'm saying that because as you hit these walls in in pursuing7:28 God's mission, just because it's a little hard, doesn't mean you're not supposed to do it. And that's 1 of the the little ways of thinking that Satan creeps in to kingdom7:40 projects, where the thinking and the lie is, well, because it's getting a little hard and because it's taking a little longer, then I really shouldn't be called to do it. That's a lie.7:52 Because anything that's worthwhile requires pain, requires some sweat, requires some work. Okay? So the mission is accomplished by faith.8:04 You can't see it all at once. Next, the mission will anger the enemy enemy. Gonna anger the if you're doing God's work, then Satan's mad at you. You ever seen that8:16 far side cartoon where the 2 deer are standing on their hind legs like and 1 of them's name's Earl, and Earl has this birthmark that looks like a target symbol. And the other deer says, bummer8:28 of a birthmark, Earl. You know, that's what happens when you say yes to your mission. You go on the board. And let me tell you something. As a man, you want to be8:40 on the board.8:41 Do you8:41 remember in the book of acts when the when the sons of Sheba are trying to use Jesus' name to cast out demons and they get beat up by the devil? They said, we know Paul, but who are you? That's8:53 because they were inauthentic and fake and had false motives, but they knew who Paul was. That's because he was a god's man. They were afraid of him. Next, the mission will accelerate9:05 your growth. As you show up to your mission that God has called you to fulfill on earth, it's gonna accelerate your growth in faith, your growth in endurance, your growth9:17 in discipline, your growth in diligence, your growth in endurance, your growth in wisdom. All of these things increase in your life as you take up9:29 your post. But you have to take up your post. And we're gonna talk about how you know what's my post God's calling me, to take up. I don't know if9:41 any of you remember that movie called Safe at Home, but it's the story of Bob Muzakowski. Bob Muzakowski was a 1st class hedonist. He was9:53 a graduate student at the University of Columbia. He loved rugby. He loved fighting. He loved cocaine, and he loved sex. That's what this man's like. Not the exact, you know, recruiting field10:05 that you think God would go shopping around him for something that he wants to do. You know, maybe we need to go to a Christian bible college or maybe we need to go somewhere else and recruit the guy who's lived a great10:17 pure life. No. For what God wanted to do, Bob Muzakowski was made of the exact stuff that God wanted to do. So in Bob's life, he shows up to his regularly10:29 scheduled Friday rugby game. He's kinda stretching his legs, you know, just kinda getting ready, getting loose. And all of a sudden, the game before his, a fight breaks out. And, like, he's interested because he likes to10:39 fight. And so these 2 guys are getting at it, man, and just like like 2 badgers just going at it. 1 guy gets the best of the other guy, and right as that, he's gonna crack this guy. The the other team comes and pulls him10:51 off. So Bob's just going. I like that dude. So after the game, you know, the new team comes on, game switching. The guy who got in the fight and was about to crack the dude is walking toward Bob.11:03 And Bob goes like this and just says, hey. He goes, good job out there. And the guy's body language totally changes, and he just goes, yeah. I know. Sometimes my temper gets the best of me. And he goes, what are you11:15 apologizing for? He goes, well, you know, I'm the pastor of the church down the street. The guy who is about to unload a knuckle sandwich on the dude on the ground is BJ11:27 Warner. BJ Warner loves rugby too, but he's a God's man, and he's a regular man. And sometimes his temper gets the best of him. And so to kind of make up for his behavior on the field, he's11:39 like, redemption. I can invite this sinful guy to my church. So he BJ says, you know, I don't know what you're doing, but, you know, if you like if you like rugby and all this stuff, we got a group of guys at our church,11:50 and we'd love to have you come, Thursday for our men's meeting. K? So here's where it is. Blah blah blah. And and Bob had never ever been invited to anything, you know, like12:02 that. It sounded so foreign and so weird. And yet, on Thursday night, Bob finds himself triggered by the painful mistake12:14 pastor BJ made, drawn to this dude, and ends up in a bible study in BJ Warner's basement. And there's 2 New York Jets, 2 prostitutes, male prostitutes, and12:26 a drug dealer. How's that for your 1st men's group? There they are. And Bob Musikowski. Well, let's fast forward. Bob gives his life to Christ12:38 in that men's group, becomes a god's man, aggressive convictions, aggressive confession, right view of God, ends up getting his degree, moves from moves from the New12:50 York area to the near the Cabrini Green neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. Any of you guys know about that neighborhood? Not the safest place to live. But you know what? Bob is there. He's selling insurance, built a13:01 very successful company. And every morning, Bob takes off and does a job through the Cabrini Green neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. And he hears bullets going off. He sees13:13 the trash, the projects. And he runs by this particular block, and he sees this this baseball field. And it's the you know, when the fence gets all curled up and there's graffiti all over the13:25 dugout and the infield is all full of weeds and there's trash cans and he's jogging by, but that's not what Bob sees. When Bob goes by that field, he sees baselines.13:37 He sees a pristine green infield with with smooth, raked, dirt on there. He sees fairway grass. He sees green painted dugouts, and he sees13:49 boys in clean uniforms playing the game that he grew up playing himself as a little boy. He can't shake it. And so Bob keeps getting this vision. What what why?14:01 What's going on? And he decides to pray about it, and then he shows up to the local recreation guy in that section. His name was Al Carter. And he says, Al, I don't know what it is, but, you14:13 know, I really have this dream, and it's to get that field moving and fixed. Carter had seen a lot of white guys coming into an African American14:25 neighborhood, wanting to do good to make themselves feel better and leave. But Al Carter sees something in this man that there's a real vision to do something because it's boiling his blood and14:37 it's breaking his heart that kids don't get to play the game he loves. And so they get in a car and they drive to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and they start near North Little League. They walk around. They have14:48 volunteers sign ups in the projects, sign up for baseball, sign up for baseball, little league, and the Cabrini Green, little league, near North Little League on on Saturday morning at 9 o'clock. It's Saturday15:00 at 9, nobody's there. 9 15, there's 6 families. It's a trickle. By 11 o'clock, there's 300 families lined up, signed up to get their kids playing baseball, and Bob Muzikowski's hitting grounders.15:13 And off it goes. In 2 years, the near north little league won a point of light award by president Bush, number 1. Started creating community15:25 scholarships, started creating impact. And at the end of that run or not at the end of the run, but when he got the award and a reporter said, hey, Bob. So why did you do this? What was theBob's Story: From Rugby to Redemption Field 15:36 impetus? He said, well, I could say it was because I love God, and I love people, and I love baseball. The next right thing. After all,15:48 somebody coached me. Did you hear that? I loved God. I loved people. I loved baseball. The next right thing was to16:00 contribute, was to fulfill his purpose. So let's look now at the process. We're gonna see kinda little little little chapters of16:12 Bob's experience, but I wanna focus in on you. You see, because Bob's process is our process in terms of discovering what it is that God has called us to do.16:24 So write this down. Here's the 1st part of the process of potential ministry for you. Number 1, there's a pain that you feel or see or experience.16:37 You see Bob, the pain for him was kids without dads taking bullets, unable to play baseball. If you wanna write a scripture down next to there, Matthew 9 35 through16:48 39. And seeing the multitudes, Jesus had compassion on them because they were distressed and downcast like sheep17:00 without a shepherd. And he turned to the disciples and he said, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers into his harvest field.17:14 You know, I have to believe that those 1st century disciples were praying, and you know who they were praying for. They were praying for you and me. Because Jesus couldn't physically meet every need. He couldn't be17:24 everywhere at once. But through a body of believers, 3 quarters of 1000000000 strong in the world, he could do some major damage. And so those disciples prayed, and we're now in the midst of17:36 their legacy. They started it. We're gonna finish it. And we're gonna bring the gospel, and we're gonna bring redemption, and we're gonna bring hope, and we're gonna go out into the harvest field, men, and we're17:48 gonna finish it. So that's that's what you that's how it starts. You see a pain, and you let the pain go from your eyes. You don't deny it. You let it sink to your heart, and you let it hit you in the18:00 gut. The word for compassion that's used of Jesus in Matthew 9 is splechnidzomai. It means from the gut. Here's the problem. We've trained ourselves18:12 to not let it go past here to here. It's almost like we've put in a titanium wall to not feel. Now, I want you to know that Jesus saw it all and couldn't fix it18:24 all at once, but he did turn to his disciples and he did begin to rally resources and men and prayer. You can't fix it all, but you can do your part. Amen? So18:35 that's what you're called to do. So there's a pain you feel. Next, there's a prompting. Write that down. There's a pain and then there's a prompting To do something to help or give18:47 back. You can't shake it. There's an urging. I remember very early on, and I had no reason to really have a heart for single moms,19:01 hard job. They have kids. They they don't there's no man in the house, you know? And it's just like, oh, that that that hurts me that they're all alone. And then fast forward, kind of like Bob19:12 Musikowski, fast forward from 17 years old where I'm just like, oh, man. That's sad to, 34. And I'm in, Compton Harbor City in Watts in South Central19:24 Los Angeles with 45 white guys and another 45 African American brothers, and we're there with pastors and we're knocking on doors. They gave us the names of single19:36 mothers in their congregations, and we showed up with a basket of stuff, gift cards, backpacks, candles, ready to eat food, pampering stuff, bible, women's books.19:48 And I'll never forget knocking on this 1 door and, just door comes open. It's got a chain on it, little boy. And I hear this voice in the back.20:00 Tony, who is it? It's a bunch of white guys standing on the porch, mommy.20:08 And then you hear the footsteps. Right? Here comes mama. Boom. Boom. Boom. And she opens the door and does the hitch. And I said, are you Tracy? And she says, yes. I just said, my name is pastor20:20 Kenny. And your pastor, Mike Starks, gave us your name. And we just wanna give you this gift and just tell you that God loves you20:31 and that the men of this church in your community want you to know they're there for you. The tears start flowing down our face, and we just sit silent. It's like the guys don't even know20:43 what to do. They're like, you know, it's getting emotional. So so I said, Tracy, I said, how can we pray for20:55 you? And is there anything you need? And she goes, well, you know, you can pray for this and that. And I said, I don't think I have any wait a minute. Yeah. There is a need. There's a dead cat21:07 underneath the house, and Vector Control couldn't get it. And I turned around, and there's nobody on the porch. But they didn't run away. They were all trying to fit21:18 their big, fat, middle aged bodies between the brick and the water meter, and nobody was, like, making it through. It was a really tight spot. And then we have this little guy, Dennis Groot. He's about 55. He's 421:30 foot nothing, 100 nothing pounds. He's just like, moves that. You know? And Dennis just gets under there like a like a little rodent, and he just gets21:42 gets in there. And, you know, all of a sudden, we hear this, you know, and we we give him, hey. You forgot the hefty bag, you know, and takes the heavy bag. And then all of a sudden, we see Dennis's feet sliding out. And21:52 then Dennis just kinda goes like this, and he picks up this hefty bag, and he holds it up just like this. And you can see the silhouette of the dead cat in the thing. It's just like, we should have bronzed22:04 him right there. Just like you know? But you know what? See, from a prompting in my heart to that22:16 moment, wives created the baskets and and and22:28 then the men got to deliver it. We partnered with our pastors and we lifted up the local pastor in in South Central and Harbor City and Watts. We made them the hero. You know? Pastor Starks gave22:40 us your name. You know? And I just thought about that. That's changed me forever because I just think, you know what? For every day that she walks around in that house22:51 stink free, because that cat was that dead cat was stinking up the entire house. It was just kind of a a an aroma that reminded her of her situation and23:03 how stinky her life was. And then God knocked on the door. It's a bunch of white guys, mommy.23:15 And we represented the knuckleheads, the men in that community, but but we were men who said, God cares for you. We care for you. And vicariously,23:27 we're repenting for that dude who left you holding the bag. And that's what the world is waiting for. So a prompting to help or give back. Don't23:39 let pain stay just in your brain. Let it flow to your heart. It doesn't mean you fix everything, but it means that you can at least have compassion.23:51 You can let it hit your gut and go, you know what? Something needs to happen. I wonder what's happening with that. Alright. The next part of the process is a place to apply godly24:03 desire. Hey. If you belong to Church of the Highlands, there's plenty of places to apply that godly desire. Let me tell you. This is a free market friendly ministry church. Amen? There's a lot of needs. If there's a24:14 need, you meet it. My pastor is the same way. Oh, you got a heart for that? Go do it. You know? So there's a place for you to apply your godly desire. And then there's next people to help. You know, Bob Muzikowski24:27 ends up telling this this kaleidoscope of people beginning with Al Carter, then people in the the, the insurance industry, and then the city manager, then the state secretary of24:38 state, and then all these people were waiting to get in on a god's man who showed up to his post. And it was God's will for them to show up and partner with him, but it wasn't gonna happen until24:50 he showed up at his post to trigger the advance of the kingdom of God, which eventually reached them, and then they had to respond. Who's waiting to obey God25:03 when you pick up your post, when you show up to your post. There's a whole spiral of people on the other side that you're gonna meet and that are waiting for you to be obedient.25:16 And then there's partners to affirm and guide. God will bring partners to affirm and guide you. That's what happened with Al Carter. And then lastly, plans begin to develop. And so that's Bob's25:27 process, but that's our process too. And you know what? If you're like, Kenny, I don't have something that boils my blood or breaks my heart. Well, if people without Jesus Christ break your heart because25:39 you're sad that they're not gonna know your king and go to heaven, start there.25:53 Relationship with God. But here's the key. To your personal contribution, write this down. Showing up. Write that down. Showing26:06 up. 90 percent of a miracle is showing up. Okay?26:22 Big wheels turned on small axles. You see the picture? Got the small axle with the teeth in it turning this big wheel. Like, it's like a piece of machinery, and it's kind of a26:34 picture of the kingdom of God that on the small axles of my obedience turn the big wheels of God's kingdom. You're a small axle, but you can26:46 turn a big wheel. So the headline in today's world with 2100000000 Christians and 3 quarters of 1000000000 Christian men is God's men, not forShow more In this video 0:00 Wired for Aggressive Contribution15:30 Bob's Story: From Rugby to Redemption Field26:54 The Process: Pain to Plans39:00 Show Up: God Multiplies Your Little50:00 Believe Big: Steps to Your Mission
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