SON: Worship Your Father

– All right, this is pastor Mark here welcoming you to join me for Real Men Wednesday Nights live here at Trinity Church in Scottsdale or online at legacy.realfaith.com. We’ll try and post it elsewhere, but they’re gonna ban me because I’m in the middle of a special sermon series called “Act Like a Man.” If you are offended by that, you need to watch it twice, because you need a lot of work. In each sermon, I’ll go through the reasons why God made men, why it’s good to be a man, and how to be a man that is a blessing to women and children like Jesus Christ, the God man who is our perfect example. This is gonna be a fun time. It’s gonna be super theological, super practical, and as always you’ll get a bit of comedy. So dudes, grab a Bible, grab a notebook, put your belt on, show up, get it together. See you on Wednesday. All right, welcome to Real Men. Who’s glad to be here? Amen? Hey, if you’re new, you’re in the right place with the best guys, amen? Thanks for joining us live or online. My name’s pastor Mark. We’re gonna do a bit of a discussion today and it’s part of a series Act Like a Man, Real Men 101. We’re gonna deal with it as a son who’s going to worship God as his father. So let me start with a simple line that you probably all know and heard, like father, like son, and that’s true. Sometimes you can look at a guy and you look at his son, you’re like, yep, that’s your dad, I can tell right there. Sometimes as well what is true in the physical is also true in the spiritual. And not only are sons like their physical fathers, but also spiritual sons are like their spiritual fathers. I’ll give you an example. So I’m wearing boots. I’ve been wearing boots since I was a little boy, and somebody asked recently, he said, “Why do you wear boots?” Well, they add an inch. And at this point, you know, my boys are all looking down on me, I’m short. And you know, in having the last will be first. Somebody like eight foot tall in the resurrection. But until then I prefer boots. But I was thinking about it, why do I wear boots? When I was a little boy, my dad was a construction worker a dry waller, and all he wore to work every day were steel toed work boots. And I loved my dad and I looked up to my dad. So guess what I wore. Steel toed work boots. Some of the first shoes. I remember my mom took me to the store. She’s like, “Marky, here’s your tennis shoes.” I was like, “No, no, no. I want the boots. I want the steel toed boots ’cause that’s what my dad wears. And I love my dad and I wanna be like my dad.” My dad wore jeans to work, he wore t-shirts, he was a construction worker. I love my dad. So it was a little boy, I look like my dad. I would dress like my dad. I actually got a little lunchbox like my dad. I got a little toolbox like my dad. I got a little hard hat like my dad. And when my dad would let me, I’d jump in his truck and I go to work with him ’cause I wanted to be with my dad and I wanted to be like my dad, like father, like son. The same was true for my grandfather. He was a diesel mechanic. Same thing, wore boots, wore jeans, eventually went to overalls, ’cause he gave up on anything with a waist. He just, you know, when it came to dessert it was, I surrender all. And so he just sorta let the overalls out. And I love my grandpa with all my heart, but he also was a blue collar guy who wore jeans and overalls and boots. And so I dressed like my grandpa. We’re like our spiritual fathers, we’re like our spiritual grandfathers in a way that is similar to the way we’re like our physical fathers and our physical grandfathers. That being said, here’s what I want to talk about when it comes to worship. Most men don’t understand worship. Most men don’t like worship. Most men come for the sermon and leave when the singing begins. You guys are doing better than most. But I wanna look at worship from a masculine perspective, and here’s the first idea. God and Satan are both fathers with sons. And if where’s my definition of worship for us as

men. Like father, like- – [Congregation] Son.

– So you better make sure you have the right father. Here’s what it says in first John 3:10. It is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. So here’s the big idea: There are two fathers and they have sons. Satan is a father and he has sons. And guess what, like father, like son. And God is a father and he has sons, and like father, like son. So it’s really important for you and I to determine who is our father. When it comes to God as Father, Jesus transforms our understanding of God. So in the Old Testament it mentions God as Father around 15 times. Almost all the time it is corporate and not individual. So God is our Father, but he’s not my father. The language isn’t as warm and personal, as like I would say toward my sons. Like my sons would say, “You’re my dad,” and I’d say “You’re my son.” It’s very personal and very intimate. But their understanding was more national than personal. So then Jesus Christ comes and he is the Son of God, like father, like son. Jesus Christ comes as the son of God and he starts calling God Father. He is the first and only religious leader in the history of the world with any significant influence who refers to God as father in a very personal way. About 65 times in the first three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he calls God Father. In the gospel of John Jesus calls God Father, this is astonishing, 100 times. His favorite name for God is Father. So God is a Father and Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And then they come to Jesus and they’re like, “Okay, teach us how to pray, ’cause we don’t know how to do that.” First thing he says is here’s how you pray: our Father. The key is this, if you wanna learn how to pray, get to know God ais Father. If you wanna learn how to worship, get to know God as Father. The key to everything is not figuring out what should I do, but first figuring out who is my Father. Once you know who your father is, you can become a son who’s like your father. That’s the essence of prayer and worship. So Jesus changes, radically alters literally all of world history. And the word that he uses for Father in the original languages is Aba. Aba. And sometimes it’s mistranslated as daddy. And it’s not daddy, it’s father. Daddy would be the kind of word that a little kid would use for their dad. But right now, like I’ve got three boys and they’re all taller than me and their voice is as deep as mine. They don’t call me daddy, they call me father or dad. My dad is probably watching, I love my dad, I call him dad, I call him pops, I call him father. I don’t call him daddy, ’cause I’m not weird, and my dad would hate that. So sometimes people are like “Dear daddy God,” and I’m like, no, no, no, unless you’re four years old with a binky, then you can call God daddy. Otherwise just call him Father. Okay? And that’s the language that Jesus uses. And then here’s what Jesus says in John 8:44, “You are of your father, the devil.” Your father, the devil. “And your will is to do your father’s desires.” He’s like you want to do what your dad does. True or false, if you have a dad and you’re the son, odds are you’re gonna wanna do what your dad does and be like your dad is. Says “you’re like your father, the devil. He was a murderer from the beginning, does not stand on the truth, he’s a liar and the father of lies.” Jesus shows up and he looks at some religious guys and he says, “Your father is the devil. You wanna do what he once done. You say the lies that he says. And if you can hurt someone or destroy something, cancel something or crucify someone, you’re a murderer just like your old man.” How many of you have seen this where there are people who are just like their dad, but

every generation, it’s just demonic and evil? The Bible calls that a generational curse. The converse of that is if you have a dad who loves the Lord and loves you, and then you grow up to love your dad and love the Lord, it’s a generational blessing. It’s movement toward life, not death, generation after generation. So the first thing I wanna say is this: None of you is an independent autonomous man. A lot of guys are like, “I stand on my own two feet.” Well, that’s a lie that the father of lies tells you. Every man has a father not just on earth but beyond the seen realm. And it’s either God the Father or Satan. And depending upon who your father is, determines what kind of life you live, what kind of legacy you leave, and what kind of man you are. So in the context of worship, it’s this big cosmic understanding like father, like son. So let me talk about worship. What is worship? Here’s what it says in Hebrews 13:15-16. “Through him,” that is Jesus Christ, the son of God, notice the Father-Son language, “let us continually,” so this is a lifestyle, “offer up a sacrifice, worship his,” who or what? We make sacrifices for praise to God, that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices, we are told, are pleasing to God.” So let me say this, worship is not just a genre of music. It’s not. It includes music but it’s bigger than that. Worship is not something that starts and stops. He says here, we continually offer up. It’s not something that begins and ends, it’s a lifestyle. In addition, worship isn’t something that just happens in the church. It happens in the church to be sure, it happens during church services to be sure, it happens when we sing together to be sure. It is that, but it’s bigger than that and it’s much broader than that. So the point is this, the world is not divided into people who worship and people who don’t. The world is divided into people who worship God and the people who worship someone or something else. Everyone worships. Everyone always worships someone or something. And so what I want you to see is I want you to see your life from the perspective of worship. Who do you worship? What do you worship? How do you worship? Worship is internal and it’s external. It is a love for God as Father. And then it’s external. It’s a lifestyle. Saying, you know what? I do love my father. So I want to live like my father. It’s internal and it’s external. If you love God as Father and you are a Son of God, then you want to follow in your Father’s example. You also want your Father to say at the end, well done. Well done. That’s what every son wants to hear from a good father. “I’m proud of you, I’m grateful for you. I love you and I reward you.” Worship is something that is private and also public. We worship when we’re in church. We just did. Worship is also what we do in public at work, how we treat others, the decisions we make. And it’s also private. Worship is what happens when you go home and the door shuts. Worship is what happens when you go to the liquor cabinet. Worship is what happens when you click onto the internet. Worship is what happens every day with the decisions and the dollars that we make in the dark. So worship is internal and external. It’s public, everyone sees it. It’s also private. Only the Father sees that. But he does see it know all. And worship is both singing and living. He says, “Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise and not neglect to do good.” The offering up of the sacrifice of praise, that’s singing, and then doing good, that’s living. So if you’re a guy who loves others and serves others, and here at Real Men we say we’re here to build men up to bless women and children. The end zone for us is to have you be blessed by the Father, so you can be a blessing to women and children. And so what that is for us, that’s a lifestyle, that’s service, that is sacrifice, that is living in addition to singing. The worst thing is if a guy has the singing but not the living. We call that hypocrite. In church

he’s like, “Thank you Lord,” and then he goes home and he’s mean to his wife, he’s abusive to his kids. He’s religious, self-righteous. He never repents. He spends all the money on himself and he’s a hypocrite. The person he is in private is not the person he is in public. A real worship or worships in private when only God sees and in public when everyone else sees, and they’re the same person. A person who is truly a man that worships God sings in church but lives the rest of the week. So you worship in your car, you worship at your house, you worship at your job, you worship at the grocery store, you worship at your kid’s little league game. You’re always worshiping, always worshiping someone or something. That’s the next point. Everyone everywhere is always worshiping. Let me go back to the beginning in Genesis and we’re gonna root all of our lectures up to thanks-giving in Genesis. Then God said, so our God lives and he speaks, “Let us,” That’s an inference to the trinity, the Father, Son and Spirit, “make man,” the word there is Adam, it’s mankind, but ultimately it begins with man, and so we have mankind, “in our image after our likeness. Let them have,” what? Dominion. You men need to know, let me just pause here and I’ll come back to the text in a moment. You men need to know you were made for dominion. That’s why you were made. And what happens in our culture, we
discourage this out of men at a very young age. Don’t be ambitious. Don’t seek to lead something or change something or rule somewhere, that is toxic masculinity. And I would say, well if the person who told you that is waving a rainbow flag, just feel free to ignore them, because they have the same discernment as an oak coffee table. They don’t know what they’re talking about. Men are made for dominion, rule, and authority. And if God’s men don’t rule, then Satan’s men do. It’s very simple. Either God’s sons exercise dominion or Satan’s sons exercise dominion. And so how many of you’re raising a son? Have raised a son? True or false: They’re always trying to find their dominion. Okay? Here’s what I find with a little boy. Early on, they climb to the highest place in the house so that they can survey their dominion. My boys always like to sword fight and test their strength. They would want to rule and to reign and exercise dominion. And when the boys hit a certain age, their mother had a harder time parenting them. She’d be like, “They’re not listening like they did when they were little.” Note, it’s because they were made for dominion. Now they’re not ready for it. If you’ve seen a teenage boy, he wants dominion, he’s not ready for it. He’s like a dog chasing a fire truck. If he gets it, he doesn’t know what to do with it, you know? So at the end of the day, what we don’t need to do with young men is discourage their desire for dominion, but direct it. You wanna rule something? That’s great. How about you start with this: rule yourself. Right? Before you tell the world what to do, get a belt, keep it on, just, you know, baby steps. You wanna rule? Rule your finances. You wanna rule? Rule your sexual desires. You wanna rule? Rule your diet. You wanna rule? Rule your alcohol. Rule yourself. First thing, dominion over yourself. And then get married and with that woman, expand your dominion. We’re gonna start a company, we’re gonna buy a house, we’re gonna buy land, we’re gonna have kids, we’re gonna do ministry. It’s about dominion. What we did to men, especially the last few years during COVID and lockdowns and ridiculous, nonsensical government foolishness is we just told young men, just stay home, have no plans, no ambition, no goals, don’t have dominion over yourself and don’t seek to lead anywhere or build anything. Now we have a generational epidemic of guys who have mental health, they are depressed, they are addicted, they have no fathers. And I was talking to my son about it today, they go onto YouTube to figure out how to talk to girls and how to leave the house. I mean, it’s

just horrifying. So if you’re a young man and you’re here, here’s my encouragement to you. Dominion over yourself and then seek to rule in the spheres of authority that God would give you beyond that. If you don’t know how to do that, find one of the older guys in the room who can be like a spiritual father to you. Some of you never had a dad. There’s some good spiritual fathers in this room. Some of you guys are getting mentored. That’s awesome. Some of you guys are getting clean and sober. That’s awesome. Some of you guys are getting married. That’s awesome. Some of you guys are becoming dads. That’s awesome. Some of you guys are becoming granddads. That’s awesome. Some of you are starting ministries. That’s awesome. Some of you are starting companies and businesses. That’s awesome. Some of you are investing in expanding your income. That’s awesome. It’s dominion. And let me just say this. If God’s men don’t seek influence, leadership and dominion, Satan’s men will. And one way to see the history of the world, it is a spiritual conflict and battle between the Father and his sons, and Satan the father of lies and his sons. And one of the lies that the world is told to neutralize God’s men is you’re not needed, you’re not important, you’re a problem, not a solution, and a true man is passive and not active. And all that comes from the father of lies who is setting up the cultural political landscape, so that his sons can win and they can conquer. Let me go back to Genesis. God said, “Let us make man in our image after our likeness. Let them have dominion.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. Male and female. We talked about this last week. He created them and God, what? Blessed them. That’s where I’m gonna go at the end. We have a father who likes to bless his sons. That’s where I’m gonna end. And God said to them, he speaks and he gives orders. God doesn’t give suggestions, he gives orders. “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion.” That’s his word to us. The language here that we are made in the image and likeness of God, it literally means we were made to mirror, okay? The the sole job or goal or objective as a mirror is to accurately reflect whoever or whatever is in front of it, right? See, you look at a mirror, you’re like, yep, that’s me. God made us, here’s what you need to know, this is amazing, he made you as his mirror. As his mirror. You are to reflect. That’s what it means to image. It means to mirror or reflect. So our Father is one way and then we are to be his sons. And what do we do? We reflect our Father, like father, like son. Like father, like son. Why did you forgive me? Because my Father forgives. Why were you generous to me? ‘Cause my Father is generous. Why did you tell me I was wrong and I need to repent? Well, that’s what I heard from my Father. Right? Like father, like son, you and I were made to mirror. We are made to worship someone or something. This is where people want to live for a cause or a movement or an experience or a purpose that is bigger than themselves. I’ve said this before, how many of you have gone to the Grand Canyon? Has been there? We’re in the Grand Canyon state. Why do we go there? To feel small. To be in awe. I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a huge hole in the dirt, just to point out the obvious, right? But people come from all around the world because it’s a really big hole in the dirt. Like that’s a giant hole in the dirt. This is amazing. That tells you that we were made to be in awe. We were made to feel small. We were made to be in the presence of something far greater and grander than ourselves. And ultimately that longing is ultimately fulfilled in getting to know God as your Father. And so ultimately everyone is always worshiping all the time, the only difference is who do you worship or how do you worship or when do you worship or why do you worship. The first two commandments in the Bible are these: There’s one God and you worship

him alone. Let me say, if you get these two things right, God will help you to get rather everything else right. So the rest of the 10 Commandments, gimme some example, what are the big ideas and some of the rest of the 10 Commandments, don’t? Don’t lie. Okay. If there’s a God and all you do is worship him, can you worship God and be a liar? No. ‘Cause our God tells the truth. The Father tells the truth. The Son is the truth. And the sons of God need to tell the truth. You can’t worship your Father and be a liar. Other of the 10 commandments? Adultery. If there’s one God and you worship him alone, is it possible to then worship sex instead of God and make sex your new God? No. No. Okay, gimme another example from the 10 Commandments. Coveting. The Father gives you something, you need to be content with it. Instead of being content with it, you covet. “Oh, he’s got a bigger car, bigger bass boat. His wife doesn’t ride a broom to work. Gosh, I covet that life!” And so what happens then is if there is one God and you worship him alone, you’ll be content with what you have, you won’t covet what the Father has given to someone else. Okay? So this is the way it works. If you get the first two commandments right, the Father will help you to get all of the other commandments right. And so if there is one God, that means sex isn’t your God. You’re not gonna worship sex and adultery. Money is not your God. So you’re not gonna steal to get more money. Winning is not your God. So you’re willing to tell the truth, even if it costs you. Then you’re content with who God made you to be and what God has given you, and you don’t covet others. What happens is everyone is always worshiping. The difference is who we worship, how we worship, where we worship, what we worship. And so what tends to happen is we worship someone or something other than God, and it’s not a bad thing, but it becomes a bad thing when a good thing is in God’s place. If there’s one God and you worship him, you can have sex with your wife. And I would highly encourage it. Check with her first though. In addition, if there’s one God and you worship him alone, you can drink alcohol without being an alcoholic. If there’s one God and you worship him alone, you can go make money without stealing to make money, okay? And so ultimately, if you get the worship issue right, you get all the issues right. Here’s what I’m telling you. Men worship their way into trouble and men worship their way out of trouble, okay? And so the alcoholic, he worships alcohol. And the way out of it is to worship God, ’cause you can’t worship God and alcohol. The sex addict worships sex and pleasure. And oftentimes for men, sex, gambling, anger, rage, alcohol, drugs, it’s just a dopamine hit on the front of the brain. In that moment, like Esau, we trade our birthright for a bowl of soup. We forget the long range and we just think of the short term. We’re like, “That would feel really good for a few minutes.” And let me say this, Satan will give you pleasure today to cause you pain tomorrow. And so the big idea in worship is simply this, I would ask you these questions, number one, who or what weighs most heavily in your life? Look at your schedule, look at your budget, look at your social media postings, look at your communication, look at your emotions, what makes you happy, what makes you angry. That word heavy or weighty indicates priority. And the biblical word is glory. When the Bible uses the word glory and it says to glorify God or live for the glory of God, it says, whatever you do, eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God. That word there for glory is weightiness or heaviness. It’s almost like, well yeah, I like sex, but I like God more, so he is heavier. I like comfort, but I like God more, so I’m willing to be uncomfortable. You know, I like money, but I like God more, so I’m not gonna steal to get money. That God should be heavier than the temptations, ’cause the temptations are temptations to idolatry, which is to allow

someone or something else to become heavier than God. Well I know God says to, you know, not be a drunkard, though it’s not a sin to consume alcohol, and Jesus did. You’re saying, you know what, alcohol is heavier in my life than God. Drugs and pleasure heavier in my life than God. Sex, porn heavier in my life than God. Being right more important than God. Which means I can’t repent when I sin. So the question is, who or what is heaviest in your life. What is your priority? What are you think about during the day? What are you hoping for? What are you longing for? And number two: what do you make sacrifices for? Back to the text in Hebrews 13:15-16, he talks about making sacrifices. One of the worship words in the Bible is glory, another is sacrifice. And we make a sacrifice for the person or thing that we hold in the position of glory. So you know what? You only have so much time and money. You give it to what’s important in priority. That’s glory. This is my priority. So I make sacrifices. I don’t have unlimited money, so I’m gonna make sacrifices for this. I don’t have unlimited time, so I’m gonna make sacrifices for this. I don’t have unlimited energy, so I’m gonna make sacrifices for this. Who or what do you make sacrifices for? And let me say this, I wanna honor you, absolutely, because you made a sacrifice tonight. Every man in this room made a, what? Made a sacrifice. Some of you left work early, which means you left money on the table, so you could be here and worship God. Some of you would rather be home with your wife eating the dinner that she cooked. She smells better than the guy next to you. And there might be a happy ending to the evening. You know? And there’s not gonna be here Men’s, I’ll just tell you that. But you made a sacrifice to be here. Some of you, you’re tired, you’re like, I just wanna go home, I wanna sit in my chair. You know, I wanna just have a whiskey and coke, not four, just one, faster, Mark, it’s, you know, within that, praise the Lord, limit. You know, that’s where I’m at. And you know, I just wanna see, I want to catch up on Yellowstone and then maybe read the Old Testament and go to bed. That’s what I want to do tonight. You know? And instead, what did you do? How many of you men being here tonight, you had to sacrifice something? Had sacrificed something. Some time, some energy, some money. You made a sacrifice. We know who or what matters to us by the sacrifices we make. And I wanna honor you men for being here. And I mean that with all sincerity. It’s not flattery. It’s actually de profound gratitude. You don’t have to be here tonight,
but you chose to be here. You chose on a Wednesday night while it’s raining in Arizona, which is weird, I’ve never seen a city or state that shuts down when it rains. It’s crazy. It’s like, it’s wet. Oh my gosh, go home. You know? It’s like, well, we’ll be okay. We have windshield wipers, they’re all dried out, but we do have them. But you guys made sacrifices to be here. And let me say

this, when the new men show up, welcome them. They made a sacrifice to be here. They left a familiar environment to come to an unfamiliar environment. They left an environment where they were in control to a place where there’s a bunch of guys who are setting a culture and they’re hoping to get connected. There are other places you could be, and I wanna honor you for being here. And so let me say this to you, men, we worship our way into trouble. We worship our way out of trouble. And sometimes what happens is we worship someone or something other than God and we don’t like it, so then we pivot, but we don’t start worshiping God. We just start worshiping something else. How many of you have stopped smoking and started eating? Don’t raise your hand, but we know who you are. We could tell. Okay? So or all of a sudden you’re like, “I used to be, you know, very angry and upset and in control. And now I’ve isolated now and now I’m not around people and I’m an isolated man, so I don’t get angry anymore.” Well, the

goal is to worship God. We worship our way into trouble. We worship our way out of trouble. If you start worshiping God, you’ll stop worshiping people and things that are not God. I’ll give you an example. Some years ago I was dealing with a movement leader. He’s over in the UK. He’s one of the godliest, most wonderful men I’ve ever met. And he’s older, he’s an older saint. He’s been married for like 50 years. I mean, the guy’s just unbelievable. And I looked at him, I was a young man, this was some years ago. I said, “So how do you stay outta trouble?” He’s like, “What do you mean?” I was like, “Well, how do you stay on the right path? How do you walk with God? How do you not get off course? How do you worship Jesus? How do you overcome sin?” And he said, he looked at me just dumbfounded, He said, “I don’t know.” I was like, “Well, I was expecting more than that.” Like, you’re the best guy I know, and you don’t know. Like, that’s not encouraging. He looked to me and I, he said, “I don’t know. I just spend a lot of time with God and then, I guess, I just don’t get in trouble.” I’ve never met a guy like, I was walking with God. Next thing, you know, I was in Vegas on a video. You know, I was wearing my underwear as outerwear. I don’t know what happened. You know? There’s nobody who walks with God into sin. So the goal is not to avoid sin. Here’s the goal: Stick close to your father. A lot of times, like, you know, are you looking at porn? Are you angry? Are you spending your money? You know, are you drinking alcohol? We’re not a place for harsh accountability. We’re for relationship with God and brothers. Are you sticking close to your father? When my kids were little, we’d go to the fair, we’d be traveling internationally, we’d be in a busy airport. What I didn’t tell them was all the places they shouldn’t go, what I told them was one thing, stick close to dad. Just stick close to dad. Dad’s got this. I love you. You’re my son. You don’t need to worry about everything. You don’t need to be afraid of everything. You don’t need to avoid everything. You don’t need to understand everything. One thing you need to do, stick close to your dad. You’re my son. I love you with all my heart. I got you. Just stick with dad. You’re gonna be good. Worship is sticking close to your dad, your father, It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’re still his son. At 51 years old, I am still his son. Now I may be a father to my sons, but I am a son of my father. Worship is sticking close to your father because like father like son, that’s what worship is for a man. Let me give you one more scripture. Christians, how do we worship? We worship by the spirit through the Son to the Father. It’s profoundly Trinitarian, which means it’s emotional, spiritual, relational. Here’s what Jesus says, John 4:23, “True worshipers worship,” who? “The Father.” This is super helpful. “In spirit, the Holy Spirit, and in truth, for the Father is,” what? “The Father is looking for people to worship.” Here’s the big idea. The Father has more sons than he does worshipers. The Father has more sons than he does worshipers. And he’s seeking sons who will worship him. How many of you know a guy, you’re like, he’s a son but he’s not a worshiper? Like the Father adopted him but he’s not really like his father and he’s not trying to become like his father. Don’t feel bad if that’s you. We’re here to build you up, not beat you up. We all have ways and days that we’re not like our Father. We call that sin. Some of you are sons, and the problem is you’re not worshipers. The Father is seeking not just sons but worshipers. And he says, we worship in the spirit. So God the Holy Spirit is in you if you belong to Jesus Christ. Here’s the good news for a man. Worship is easy for us to understand, ’cause Jesus Christ is our big brother. The Father sent the Son to live without any sin, to die for our sin, to forgive us, to raise from the dead, to give us newness of life and to put the power of the Holy Spirit in us so that we can worship. The Holy Spirit, he is worshiping the Son and the Father all the time. And

he lives in us to teach us how to worship through the Son to the Father. We are sons of God filled with the spirit of God. We worship through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, our big brother to God the Father. And then the question is, what does it look like to be a son who worships the Father? Answer: like Jesus. God’s made this really easy for men. You’re like, what do we do? What do we look like? What is the product? Jesus. Oh, God became a man. Thanks. As a man, I appreciate the shortcut. Okay, so what does it look like to live as a worshiper or the Father? Jesus. This is where Jesus, we are told in 2nd Corinthians 4:4, Christ is the image of God. That image is mirroring. It’s glorying, it’s a worship word. And then he says this in Colossians 1:15, He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God. So be like, my Father’s spiritual, what does he look like? Well, look at the son. If you wanna know what the Father looks like, look at the Son. Like father, like son. So Jesus comes along and here’s what he says. They come to Jesus and they ask him this question. “We wanna see the Father.” And he says, “if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen him.” Like father, like son. Some of you guys love Jesus ’cause he’s the big brother. But you struggle with God the Father ’cause you have a father wound. Your father was gone, he was abusive, he was domineering, he was overbearing, he was ungodly, unhelpful, unwise. So you’re like, I like Jesus. I’m not so sure about the Father. Jesus says, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Fathe” He’s the perfect mirror that reflects the character and the love and the grace and the forgiveness and the courage and the strength of the Father. And so we’re talking about it over and over and it’ll culminate in the last week. But ultimately, Jesus is a lion and a lamb. We’ve talked about that. There are days that he is very tough. There are days that he is very tender. There are people with whom he is very tough. And there are people with whom he is very tender. And that’s the heart and and the character and the Father heart of God. And so for you men, if you belong to Jesus, you are going to become like the person or thing that you worship. And we want you to worship the Father by following the example of the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. The same spirit that empowered the life of Jesus. And the goal is not for you men just to be sons of God, which we do wants you to be, so you need Jesus, but also to be what? Worshipers of the Father. Let me in a few moments just close with this, why do men not worship in church? How many of you looking around the room, this is a little shocking, packed house, okay? You’re like, these are a bunch of guys that are worshiping. And I had a single mom recently, she said, “It looks like you pastor a sports bar.” That’s what she told me. I said, “Well, if you have any chicken wings, I’ll pray about it, you know?” So I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “It’s just like dudes.” She’s like, “And they’re real… Like dudes.” I said, “How’s that make you feel?” She said, “Amazing. I’m a single mom. These men love children and the women feel very safe. So I’m here as a single mom and I want my boys around these guys.” End zone. End zone. Boys who need fathers and fathers who are becoming like their father.
And so when you go to church, oftentimes you don’t see a lot of men. And so I wanna speak even online to the leaders who are joining us around the world, churches and ministries. Statistically, 60% of churchgoers are women. The majority of those… In addition, the least likely person to go to church is a young single man. Who needs to go to church the most? A young single man, right? So the question is, well why are they not in the church? I’ll give you a few reasons. Number one… How do I say this? Let me explain it to you culturally. What has happened historically in our nation has affected the church, and that is, in many generations, all the young men left the country to go to war. So you take all the young men out or many of the

young men out, and I pulled it up, at the end of World War II, and I would say that’s an example of Satan’s sons against God’s sons, it’s literally a war against good versus evil, which I think explains much of human history. What happens in World War II is at the end of World War II there were about 140 million Americans and there were over 12, almost 13 million in active duty military service. That’s around 9% of the whole population of America is in the military going to war. So guess what? The young men are gone. They’re gone. And what the young men do? They join the military where, true or false, they get strong male leadership and brotherhood. I mean, have you been in the military? This is what I’m told. Strong male leadership and brotherhood. Meanwhile, back at home, who’s left in church? Women and children. Women and children. And we love women and children, and women and children need to be in church. And we want good for them. But all the strong young men are off at war. So then the women in the church, they decide that they’re going to run the church. So all of a sudden the church starts to look like women decorated it. It starts to smell like women decorated it. And since there’s no men, all the programming is for the women and children who do need love and service. And so they hire a guy who’s older, he’s not off to war, he’s retired, he’s kinda like a really kindhearted grandpa who’s gonna love the women and the children. So the church works for women and children. Now they need to find a guy to lead worship. This is where it gets offensive. And all the men, the strong men are off of war, will find a really nice guy and he can lead the worship. So the least masculine guy leads the worship. Not criticizing, I’m just observing. Skinny jeans, deep V-neck, frosted tips, unemployed, profoundly emotional, not a voice quite like mine, okay? So in the Old Testament, the worship leader was a guy named David, who also is good at killing people, okay? It’s not that guy. Okay? So we have a nice older guy as the grandpa and then his confused grandson leading worship, emotionally connects with all the women and children. The men come back from war. They show up in church. Huh? I’m not gonna listen to that guy. And I can’t sing with that guy. Like I can’t get in that octave unless I have an injury. Like you know, I can’t… I would need to not wear a cup to hockey night and then I could sing with that guy. So the men walk in, they’re like, this feels like a feminine environment, it sounds like a feminine environment, it seems like it’s for women and children. And the men left the church and they never came back. They never came back. And here’s the big idea. True or false, women feel comfortable in a masculine environment if it’s not angry and aggressive. Can you take your girlfriend to a sports bar? Yeah. Do men feel comfortable, healthy, normal men, we now gotta say that today, healthy, normal, heterosexual men, do they feel comfortable in a profoundly feminine environment? No. I’ve never seen a guy, he’s like, “Yeah, I can’t wait to go get my nails done.” And if you’re that guy, you need to be honest, ’cause you need help immediately. So women will go to a nail salon, but men won’t go. Women will go to a sports bar. And so what we did, we created an environment that works for all the women and repels all the men. So here’s why you’re here. God is a Father. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. To be a true man is to be like Jesus, tough and tender, lion and lamb, worshiping the Father with daily decisions, sacrifices and service, as well as singing in songs. And I wanna honor you men for being here. And this is the whole reason we do this ministry. We’re trying to create an environment where men can learn what it means to be sons of God and worship to become like their Father. In a short bit we’ll do table discussions. Let me just tell you where we’re going. Last week we covered, “Man: Own Your Identity.” This week’s “Son: Worship Your Father.” We’ll then deal with “Sage: Learn

Your Lessons,” “Worker: Do Your Job,” “Artists: Create Your Culture.” This is where we’re going. Bring your buddies. “Steward: Build His Kingdom,” “Husband: Love Your Princess,” “Father: Leave Your Legacy,” “Warrior: Slay the Dragon.” And as I said, we’re bringing John Lovel from the Warrior Poet Society for that. We’re gonna have discussions in a moment, but what I’m gonna do instead of praying, I’m gonna invite up a friend of mine and guess what we’re gonna do? We’re gonna worship as the Father’s sons. We’re just gonna sing, hundreds of men together, a great old hymnal. And so I’m gonna invite you men to stand and sing with us. And leading us is my friend Drew. Do you guys love Drew? All right. So Drew, be real honest, what is presently your day job, currently? I know you’re transitioning, but your current job?

– My last day is Friday, but I’m a meat cutter. – He’s a butcher.
– Bashes. Yeah.
– And God’s done a great thing in your life.

– Yes, sir.
– And you’re gonna lead us in worship today as sons of the Father. – Absolutely.
– So, you want them to sing loud and proud?

– Louder than you’ve ever sang in your lives. And you guys all know this song, so let’s all sing it together. ♪ Amazing grace, how sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ I once was lost, but now am found ♪ ♪ Was blind, but now I see ♪ ♪ When we’ve been there ten thousand years ♪ ♪ Bright shining as the sun ♪ ♪ We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise ♪ ♪ Than when we’d first begun ♪ Sing that last chorus one more time. ♪ When we’ve been there ten thousand years ♪ ♪ Bright shining as the sun ♪ ♪ We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise ♪ ♪ Than when we’d first begun ♪ Amen. Father God, we come before you this evening in complete surrender to you. You alone are worthy of our praise and worship, God. We thank you for being our God, we thank you for being our Father. You are a good Father and we love you. We thank you for finding us so we don’t go searching for you, but you come to us and you find us in the darkness that we… We love you God. Thank you. In Jesus name. Amen.