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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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Jesus Turns the Tables: A Model for Men 0:00 If you have a Bible, I want you to hold 2 spots. 1 in Mark chapter 11 and 1 in James chapter 1. If you're joining us for the first time, we're starting part 1 of a new series called Turning the0:12 Tables. And to get us thinking in the right direction, let's start with a question. Have you ever been in a situation where things were going in the wrong direction? Right?0:23 And what's more, you are the 1 who has to confront the situation, and you gotta change the situation. So you see something, you recognize it,0:35 you realize you're responsible for confronting it, and then you have to take action to change the situation. Maybe somebody in the family is not treating someone else in the family0:47 the right way, and you have to step in. Maybe you're not treating someone the right way, and you gotta take a long look in the mirror, and then you have to confront yourself. Or maybe you0:59 see a brother in Christ who's falling into some habits that you know that you know are not aligned with who he is as God's1:11 man and is not aligned with God's word, and you have to step step in. Maybe some of you are, have to do like what I had to do. You need to confront a habit1:23 or an addiction in your life that that's controlling you from the inside out and harming your relationships with God and people. You see, in all these1:35 situations, you just come to a point where you just go, it's time. It's time to turn the tables. It's time to get this thing going, not in this direction, but I gotta step in so it's going1:47 in the right direction. And that's what we're talking about in this series, because as God's men, you're gonna see things, you're gonna sense things, you're gonna collide with situations in life, listen, that are1:59 ungodly, people that are ungodly, that should be acting godly. You'll you'll collide with things that are unjust and situations where people who should know2:10 better are acting unjustly or unfairly. Things that are unhealthy, right, and are polluting situations and you gotta step in. Or maybe you just collide with something that's flat2:22 out evil and you gotta step up and suit up and show up and step in to that situation like a man. And God will call you, not someone else2:35 to step in out of your love for God, out of your identity that then takes command of your energy, and then it looks like an expression2:47 of confrontation to turn the tables. To get that that situation or person away from flowing in the wrong direction, get them flowing in2:59 the right direction. You see, at Everyman Ministries, here's something that we know. Not only does evil triumph when good men do nothing, but others3:11 suffer when we don't have the courage to confront situations like a man. So in part 1, we're gonna define what it3:23 means to turn the tables. We're gonna watch Jesus do it literally and spiritually, and then we'll tackle the first area where God is calling3:34 us to turn the tables and confront an area of our lives. So let's define what it means to turn the tables. Means this, if you turn the tables on someone3:46 or some situation, you change the situation completely so that someone or something loses its advantage and you gain the3:58 advantage. The dynamic of the relationship or situation is flipped. See, that's what it means to turn the table. Right? A table is this way. You turn the table, it flips4:10 over, the other side is on it. And it's a metaphor for gaining the advantage or changing the direction of a circumstance or person or situation. And in the4:22 Bible, we see Jesus do it literally out of his love for God, spiritually. In Mark chapter 11, we read about this4:33 situation. And I want you to to watch and list listen and see and sense with your heart Jesus's heart. Says this, on reaching4:45 Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and4:57 would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. As he taught them, he said, is it not written, my house will be called a house of prayer for all5:09 nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. The chief priest and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him because the whole5:21 crowd was amazed at his teaching. So, let's unpack this very simply. Jesus walks into the temple courts supposed to be a place of worship and5:32 prayer. He sees people using his house to make a buck. A house of prayer has become a house of profit. People are pimping God5:44 and and and and a relationship with God selfishly to make money, Jesus sees it and he reacts, and he starts5:56 turning the tables literally over. He sees a direction that relationship with God is going and it's not God at all. And so he has to6:08 recognize it, he has to confront it, and then he has to take some action. You know what's interesting about Jesus is that sometimes, a lot of times you read the Gospels, he you find him6:20 sitting at tables, reclining at tables, but then sometimes you see him flipping tables out of his love for God. And that's really what I want us to see. In John's gospel,6:33 it tells the same story, but it actually tells us the perspective of the disciples who are watching Jesus do this. Says this, in6:44 John 2 17, his disciples remembered that it is written, zeal for your house consumes me. You see how6:56 energy for God, right, translates into confronting actions for God's purposes. I'm gonna say that again. When you have energy for God, you love the Lord,7:08 that's gonna translate in energy toward God's purposes and in his character, Right? And the disciples were like, oh my gosh, this is a prophetic moment. Like, it7:20 says about the Messiah that zeal, energy for God's house, right, God's purposes and God's people will consume him. Now I just want you to7:32 pause for a second and remember that that same Jesus right there, he lives in you. And the message of Jesus is, write this7:43 down, enough. Enough. Now as we move forward in this series, what I want us to to see7:56 is this whole idea of how our identity converts to energy, and we are going to have to confront some things in our lives that are not8:07 aligned with God's purposes and God's will. Look at what it says in Proverbs chapter 8 verse 13. It says, the fear of God means hating8:19 evil. If you download the notes, circle that. Whose ways I hate with the passion? Pride and arrogance and crooked talk.8:32 So what I wanna do now is I wanna just kinda outline where we're headed in this series. Okay? What does that mean? The fear of God means hating evil. Well, what it means8:44 practically, and I want you to write these things down because this is their where we're going. Right? It means that I will confront myself. The Bible is very clear that that we have evil within. We have sin.8:56 We have flesh. And we can be a partner to evil, but as God's man, we have to confront it. That's part 1. We're gonna talk about that today. Secondly, this means I will confront my brothers.9:07 Right? Other Christians who I love, I will confront. And we will talk about the right way to do that, and the motive for doing that, and the love9:20 that's behind loving confrontation of another brother. Third, it means that I will confront injustice. That's part 3. Fourth, this means I will9:32 confront lies. That's part 4. And then fifth and the final part, it means that I will confront the evil 1.9:44 I'll confront the evil 1. So that's where we're headed. We gotta turn the tables. We're gonna collide with situations with within ourselves, that we see in our brothers, that we see in the world that are9:56 unjust, lies and deception that we have to confront, and turn the tables on to change the direction. And Jesus told the disciples, you're gonna confront the evil 1 and the gates of hell, the agenda of10:08 hell, will not prevail. He's talking to those guys who follow him. So there's the kinda setup, there's the foundation for for our series, Turning the Tables.10:19 That's the arc of where we're headed. Now, when it comes to saying enough, let's look at area 1, probably the hardest 1 of all, and that's confrontingDon't Fool Yourself: The Patterns of Self-Confrontation 10:32 yourself or confronting self. Right? And in the Bible, it's it's very clear that you're gonna have to do this. It talks, in 1 passage in James chapter 1,10:44 about this very specifically. It says this, don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the word go in 1 ear10:56 and out the other. Act on what you hear. Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and 2 minutes later have no idea who they11:08 are or what they look like. But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God, the free life, even out of the corner of his eye and sticks with11:20 it, is no distracted scatterbrain, but a man or woman of action. Listen, that person will find delight in affirmation in the action.11:31 Anyone who sets him up self up as quote religious by talking a good game is self deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Now11:43 I wanna draw your attention to the first part of this picture, the first 3 words, don't fool yourself. Don't fool yourself, right?11:55 Why do you say that? Why would you address Christians in that way? Because we're good at fooling yourself. Can I get an amen? Can we have a cup of honesty12:08 in this community of men? Yeah, we're good at fooling ourselves. And you see the picture. You see where God speaks directly or indirectly, alright, and a man12:19 hears, right? And then he speaks to us about us. Right? And it's calling for us to take action, and it's time12:31 to confront ourselves and take action on what God is speaking. And then what we notice in this passage is 2 patterns. Alright? Pattern number 112:43 is where there's recognition. Right? People hear and they know what's being said or spoken. The second part is confrontation. Okay? That's12:55 where we listen. Inside we go, oh, I see it and I have to confront that, and then we face the we face ourselves. And then third, you see taking action.13:07 Right? Recognition, confrontation, taking action. Right? That is the desired pattern when we turn the tables on a situation. God13:19 speak to us, He got God speaks to us about us, and then we confront ourselves. We have a change of mind, which leads to a change of action, and then13:31 we take that action. And I love what the passage said. We find joy and delight in the action. Alright? That's when we feel like, hey. I did the right thing. You ever done13:43 that? And it feel good to do the right thing before God and before man? Of course, it does. But then there's a second pattern of action, and it starts off the same. Right? There's recognition. Alright?13:54 There's recognition and then there's self deception. Right? Let's pause there for a second because instead of facing themselves, right, they14:06 flee themselves. They flee the confrontation, so they self deceive. So God speaks, they hear it, but they don't wanna hear it, then they self deceive through14:18 rationalization or justification or excuses or whatever. And then it goes to the third part, which is inaction. Alright? So you've got recognition,14:29 then self deception, then inaction. Alright? And that inaction and I think we've all been there. Right? Where we hear the truth, but we deny the truth. We deceive ourselves. We lie to14:41 ourselves. We self deceive so that we continue in the action that God wants us to correct, to take us into a new direction, and it results in spiritual inaction.14:53 Right? What does that lead to? Because we learn that taking action when God speaks and confronting yourself, there's delight and affirmation in taking that action in the relationship. What about when you15:05 don't? What about when god speaks and you don't? Do you self deceive and you give god the highest min or you just deny or compartmentalize? And there's inaction. Well that leads to self deception and destruction.15:18 You flee God's truth. So there's the there's the the biblical case for self confrontation. Those are the 215:29 patterns. Now let's get God's mind when it comes to confronting ourselves. What do we need to know and when does God's man need to act? So the first thing that we need to know is I'm being15:41 examined already by God. Write that down. I am being examined by God. God's tracking me and God is tracking you. Why? Because15:53 we're part of his family and he's invested and interested interested in us like any good father is. Listen to what he says, but I, God, search the heart16:05 and examine the mind. I get to the heart of the human. I get to the root of things. I treat them as they really are, not as thy they depend they16:17 pretend to be. So interesting. There's who you really are, and then there's your image. Alright? There's the substance of who you are, then there's the shadow of who you are. And16:29 God knows, God sees, God examines the real you. Alright? Not the the projected persona that you like people16:40 to, believe. And so when it comes to self confrontation, it's it's good to know that the God who created you sees you, but he's not16:52 seeing the image that that that people are consuming. He sees the real you, and and that helps us to know that someone knows17:04 the real us when it comes to confronting ourselves. If nobody knows, then we're just fooling ourselves, but we're actually fooling God. But we're not fooling God. Right? Because he sees us. He's examining17:16 you and I right now. The second thing we need to know is that I'm commanded to examine myself. Right? You're commanded to confront yourself, examine yourself, see what's17:28 there. Listen to what it says in Lamentations chapter 3. It says, let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the Lord. So what17:40 you see is that God's Word encourages God's man to evaluate, to do an inventory of, okay, how am I being, how am I believing, how17:52 am I behaving, test it in light of my relationship to the Lord, and then if I test it and the radar goes off,18:04 like, hey, that's out of alignment, I gotta return to the Lord. So we're encouraged as a spiritual discipline to constantly being examining ourselves. Look at what it says in second18:15 Corinthians chapter 13 in the New Testament. It says, examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, right? Circle that. In the faith.18:28 Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. So God is examining us.18:40 That was point number 1. He's examining us right now. But like any good father, he would want his son to become self aware and self examine18:52 and self confront and self correct. It's a maturity thing. God wants you mature. Know, he doesn't want you to be a spiritual toddler or baby who19:04 always has to be checked and controlled. He wants you to see the family way, understand the family ways, and adjust your living and thinking to the family ways,19:16 and you intuitively, knowing the family ways, right, you self correct, you self examine, you self adjust. Right? God would much rather19:28 prefer that. So I'm examined I'm being examined by God right now. I'm commanded by God to examine myself. And when I do that, examine myself,19:40 number 3, I'm encouraged to be honest with myself. See, it's 1 thing to examine yourself. You can be totally dishonest with yourself, but I'm encouraged to be honest with myself. What does that look19:51 like? First John chapter 1 verses 8 through 10. God's word says this, if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess20:03 our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out20:15 to be a liar and his word is not in us. Now, that right there, that last sentence, if we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, God20:27 out to be a liar, and his truth is not in us, is worth exploring. You know what God's word tells us? It's dysfunctional for God to say 1 thing about you and for you to claim another20:40 in your own family. That's dysfunctional. That's the definition of a dysfunctional family. There's the truth. There's what God says. That's the truest thing about you. That you're imperfect, that you're20:52 broken, that you make mistakes, that you sin, that you make bad choices, and yet we as sinners who are imperfect and broken and make bad21:04 choices, we claim to be saints. And we we relate to God and ourselves, in a in in a dishonest way. Like, no, everything's good. No, it's great. It's21:15 good. I'm good. It's all good. No, it's not. Because you're imperfect and until you get to heaven, that perfection is not gonna be there. You're gonna you you people are21:27 good and bad, marriages are good and bad, choices are good and bad here on earth. And so I'm examined by God right now. I'm being examined. I'm commanded by God to examine21:39 myself, and then I'm encouraged to be honest. Alright? But it that that's not enough. Alright? Now we're just talking about, hey, this is what you need to know. You're being examined. You're commanded. You're encouraged21:51 to be honest. But now, what's your part? Alright? Number 4, I am called to recognize ungodly patterns in myself. This is the filter,22:03 okay? We can know that God's looking at us. We We need to look at ourselves and we need to be honest with ourselves. But what's the filter? What set of glasses do we put on when we're practicing22:16 this thing called self examination or self confrontation? Well, we gotta recognize ungodly patterns. Look at what it says in Romans 12 2. It says, do not conform. Listen to22:28 the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then, you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. Alright? Different pattern. His good, pleasing,22:40 and perfect will. So there's the will of the world, then there's God's will. There's the pattern of the world, Alright? Then there's the pattern of God's way. Right? There's the pattern of the world and22:52 then there's the pattern of God's word. Okay? Now when you think about worldly patterns, all you have to do is remember the word s e l f. Worldly23:04 patterns are synonymous with self. Right? For example, what's materialism, which is a pattern in philosophy of the world? It's self preservation.23:18 The principle of scarcity dominates me. I have to get what I can. I have to accumulate and accrue stuff. I have to possess. Right? Materialism,23:31 self preservation. In the world, you have hedonism. Right? That's self gratification. Alright? I gotta I gotta use things in people23:42 to gratify my flesh or my needs to get my needs met. Alright? Hedonism, self gratification. That's the pattern of the world.23:55 Narcissism. Alright? Self importance. Right? It's about me. Alright? It's about what I want. It's about my position. It's about my24:07 power. It's about my visibility. Right? It's about number 1. Right? Narcissism. Self importance. Right? Worldly pattern.24:19 Right? So when the Bible says, I'm called to recognize ungodly patterns, it's real easy to have a filter for that, and it's just okay. How does the godless24:31 world operate self preservation, self gratification, self importance? What's the common denominator in how the world operates? Self.24:43 Right? Ungodly patterns revolve around self. And when your life revolves around self, guess who's God? Not God. You.24:56 You're on the throne of your life and you're serving yourself, right? That's how we know. That's the world. That's the godless world out there. It's what I25:07 think. I'm in charge. I get to decide what's good and evil. And when you get to decide what's good or evil, you serve yourself. So we're called to recognize ungodly25:19 patterns. Alright? That's your part. So recognize. Next, you're called to confront yourself. It's not enough to recognize it. I go, oh, yeah. That's that's not a25:31 good thing. Now I have to decide to confront it. Listen to what it says. This is Jesus talking in Matthew chapter 7. He says, do not judge or you too will be judged. For in the same way you25:43 judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no25:55 attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye, you26:07 hypocrite. First, take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. So in part 2, we're gonna26:19 talk about that we will need to confront, most likely, a fellow brother in Christ. Right? We're gonna have to turn the table on the direction26:31 where he's he's headed and turn it back, right? Or we're called into it at least. But before we do that, you gotta start with yourself. You have to look at yourself in the mirror. You have to confront26:43 yourself. And and the Bible is is very transparent about the need to hey, before you go point your finger, it's not you got you know, when you point, you got you got you got 3 fingers pointing26:55 back at you or however that analogy works. You gotta look at yourself first, examine yourself, confront yourself, and identify, right? The plank, the big27:06 thing that's in your own eye before you use that same eye to nitpick that little thing of sawdust out of other people's lives, right? So the Bible calls us27:19 to con to to confront ourselves. So we're called to recognize, we're called to confront, and then lastly, we are called to take corrective act action.27:31 So I can recognize something. Okay. I can confront it and say, alright. That's wrong. But now I have to actually, in faith and humility, take corrective action. Listen to what the27:43 Bible says in Acts chapter 3 verse 19. It says this, repent then, turn to god so that your sins may be wiped out. That times of27:55 refreshing may come from the lord. I want you to see the connection between repentance and refreshing, Right? When I self confront28:08 and because I know God's examining me, because I know I'm encouraged to examine myself, right? Because I know I should be honest with myself and then I recognize and confront, now it's time to take some action.28:20 When I repent, which is that process of recognition, confrontation, and taking action, look at what it leads to. Refreshing.28:32 Wow. Isn't it great that you and I are works in process? That's the way God looks at us. You and I are a work in process. We're not we're not perfect. God knows we're not perfect. We're gonna we're gonna get to a28:44 certain level, and then we'll fail. And then we're gonna get to another level. And then we'll we'll take a step back. Then we'll get to another level. And that's kind of the journey in life. It's not just 1 that's the28:54 seamless journey of holiness and perfection. Actually, it's a process of success and failure and success and failure, and where we're learning along the29:06 way and growing mature through our mistakes and self confrontation. Look at what it says here in terms of, taking action29:18 in a way that's meaningful. So the Bible says, repent, turn to God, so that and confront yourself, take action so that you can experience his refreshing. What is that look like, alright? In Ezekiel29:30 chapter 18, it says this, so turn around. Get it? Turn the tables. Turn it around. Turn your backs on your rebellious living so that sin won't29:41 drag you down. There's an indicator. Clean house. No more rebellious. No more rebellions, please. Get a new heart. Get a new spirit. Why would you choose to29:53 die, Israel? I take no pleasure in anyone's death. This is the decree of God, the master. Make a clean break. Live. What I love about this is30:05 that there's, you know, no other measure, that is meaningful when it comes to real change other than changing your actions. I30:17 know that you have might have said this to someone else just who who has claimed that they've changed. Right? But then you see their pattern, and their pattern says the exact opposite. They're still the same. And maybe30:29 you've thought to yourself or maybe you've articulated them, you haven't changed. And they go, why? Because none of your actions have changed. And that's that's Ezekiel's point is30:41 that a true self confrontation, a true recognition and confrontation of what's wrong means that we're gonna reinvest the energy that we used to put toward what is wrong30:53 and put it toward God and what is right. Now to close out, I just wanna coach us all up, including myself, on how do IShow more In this video 0:00 Jesus Turns the Tables: A Model for Men10:22 Don't Fool Yourself: The Patterns of Self-Confrontation31:00 Markers and Power for Self-Change5:34
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