Transcription
[Applause] Amen, thank God! What a wonderful sight to see men who want to hear from God. I've been doing a series that many of you have been watching on memorial stones. Right here is one of the strengths of who we are as a fellowship: men who want to do right, and that's the hope of the world.
So I'm excited that you're here, and we're in for a weekend where we're going to hear from God. You are going to hear from God tonight, and you're going to hear from God tomorrow. God bless you.
Turn in your Bibles, if you brought them, to 1st Samuel chapter 18.
In 1997, a Korean Airline plane was coming in for a landing in Guam. The landing is tricky because they have to avoid a mountain before they can land at the airport. How many of you think missing a mountain is a good thing to do if you're flying?
The pilot was searching for the ILS signal, the Instrument Landing System. That's a radio signal sent from the airport that they can lock onto to guide them down. The pilot was searching for that, but he didn't know that the ILS was broken. He picked up a radio signal, assuming it was the ILS, and followed it down straight into the mountain, killing 229 people on that plane.
Here's the point I want to make from that tragic story: in life, you have to choose the correct reference points. That man was lining up with something that was incorrect, broken, and deadly. This is true for every man. You have to make sure that you are choosing correct reference points of what a real man is.
In the text we're going to look at, it tells about a man named Jonathan, who is an excellent reference point of what a real man is. I want to preach about a real man.
1st Samuel 18:1-4 says, "When David finished talking with Saul, Jonathan felt very close to David. He loved David as much as he loved himself. Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him go home to his father's house. Jonathan made an agreement with David because he loved David as much as himself. He took off his coat and gave it to David, along with his armor, including his sword, bow, and belt."
A real man chooses correct reference points. A reference point is something to refer to or literally to line up with. Every man here has reference points in life. Reference points form identity. A reference point will show you who you are and who you are supposed to be.
I learned from a very early age. I had an excellent reference point in my father. I learned that men work. My dad was a hardworking man. I learned how to work. I learned that men are willing to do difficult things; they don't just look for easy things. That was a reference point. It forms identity. That's a man. Men work; it was never an option.
Reference points show you what you are supposed to be. Your actions, your attitudes, how you treat people, those often come from your reference points in life. I saw from a young age that a real man treats women well. My dad always treated my mother well.
I got in trouble a lot. There were many things in life that caused me pain, but no pain was like if I caused mom trouble. Mom would say words when dad was gone that would strike terror in my heart: "Wait till Dad gets home." It's like, "No, that's not good." But I learned lessons about how you treat women. It was a reference point.
One man said, "I knew I had an anger problem when my four-year-old son was sitting in the shopping cart at the grocery store, and he said to the person in the cart in front of us, 'Pick a lane, fool.' Where did he learn that?" It's like the old saying: the boy asks his dad, "Dad, how come all the idiots come out when you drive?" Reference points.
The problem is that many men have negative reference points in their lives. Some of you here, instead of being able to watch a father and how he treated women, had a father who abandoned you. He didn't mind making the baby, but he didn't want to raise one. So you learn that men are selfish. Fathers who bailed when the relationship was difficult quit on their wives and quit on their kids, giving you a reference point: men quit when life is hard.
Some of you had fathers that were abusive; others had fathers that were passive. They were completely uninvolved and never took a leading role in anything in life.
Our story that we're looking at is about Jonathan. Jonathan's father was a negative reference point. His father, Saul, was selfish, emotional, envious, unspiritual, and rebellious. That is what he saw growing up. Some of you saw that growing up.
Then some men deliberately choose unhealthy reference points. We live in a world that values famous people: gangsters, rappers, singers, and movie stars. Young men say, "I want to be like that." They're perverts singing about sex, demeaning women, and abusing people. They're violent. Men say, "Oh, I wish I could be like that."
Your reference points in life have influence on your life. Do you know that you look at life in certain ways because of the reference points of your past? You literally approach problems and people because of your reference points. Some of you react to certain situations in unhealthy ways. Why do you freak out so badly? Why can't you sit down and have a normal conversation about a problem? Because you've never seen anybody do it.
Reference points. Some of you treat women in unhealthy ways because of the reference points. Listen, it's possible to recreate. Some of you are recreating things in your own life that are not good. You are recreating things that you hated growing up.
2nd Kings 23:32 says, "And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his fathers had done." He had seen his ancestors, his father, his grandfather, and on and on. They set bad examples and brought destruction in their homes and on the nation. What does he do? The same thing that didn't work for them, the same thing that caused destruction.
Listen, following a bad example doesn't make sense. If you suffered from somebody else's mistakes, why would you want to repeat them? This is a supernatural issue. Some of you grow up saying, "I will never be an alcoholic. I'll never be a drug addict like that. I will never abuse my family in anger like that." But there's something on the inside that drives you, and you have recreated it in your own life and in your own home.
Do you know it's possible to become the very thing you hate because of a supernatural power driving you and trapping you?
The story of Jonathan tells us a very important part of life: you have to choose correct reference points. It's a choice. For some of us, choosing correct reference points will involve rejecting wrong reference points from the past.
2nd Chronicles 17:3-4 says, "The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the first ways of his father David and did not seek after the Baals or the false gods, but he sought the Lord God of his father and walked in his commandments and not after the doings of Israel." His own father was disobedient, but he said, "I'm not going to be like him." He reached back to an ancestor, David, and said, "I am going to be like David. I'm not going to recreate this."
In other words, he's rejecting his own father's disobedience. Some of you here have to make up your mind. You grew up in constant conflict. Now you are married. You have to choose: "I am not going to have a bad marriage like my parents." Your parents were miserable; that's their choice. They want to fight till the day they die; let them. But you can choose differently.
Some of you grew up in church with carnal parents who weren't involved in the things of God. You can choose and say, "I am not going to be carnal. I'm not going to be like that uninvolved, barely hanging on in salvation."
The Book of Psalms refers to the sons of Korah twelve times. Their father, their ancestor Korah, was a rebel and was destroyed by God. But the sons of Korah were priests who labored faithfully in the temple. In other words, they said, "We do not want to go down his road. We're going to be different. We are going to be a blessing."
So you have to reject wrong reference points. Some of you need to reject the false ideas of manhood: that rapper, that movie star, the gangsters in your neighborhood. Those are not good reference points. They're divorced, they're in trouble with the law, their lives are a mess.
The problem is we can look at a video, a music video. We can look there; it's an image; it's not real. The problem is people buy into a lie, something they see on a screen, a movie, a TV show. "I want to be like that."
You not only have to reject wrong reference points; every man here, if you want to be a real man, you have to choose correct reference points.
Verse one says, "When David finished talking with Saul, Jonathan felt very close to David. He loved David as much as he loved himself."
You've got to get the context here. Jonathan's in the army; his dad is in charge of the whole army. For 40 days, he didn't see Dad fighting. Every day, this giant named Goliath would stand and torment and mock the people of God. It was his dad's job to go fight him, to lead the boys into battle. For 40 days, he hadn't seen that.
Then a young 17-year-old boy shows up and says, "Why isn't anybody taking him on? I'll fight him with a rock." The Bible says after he knocks him down with a rock, he pulls out his own sword and cuts off his head.
Verse one tells us that David came walking up with the head of Goliath. Jonathan saw him and said, "David is a man. That's a man I want to be like."
Dad wouldn't fight; I want to be like that man. You have to identify in life who is good. It's your job to identify who is a good reference point, who is a real man, and then deliberately say, "I want to be like him. I want their good qualities."
3rd John verse 11 says, "Do not imitate what is evil, but imitate what is good." That's a choice. I deliberately choose what is good.
Hebrews 6:12 says, "That you be not slothful or lazy, but be followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
Do you know that the reference point you choose in life is going to determine your future? It may well determine your whole life.
Lisa Respers France arrived at the World Trade Center in New York City for her first day of work on 9/11/2001. She was headed up to her office on the 31st floor when she met Bobby Harley coming down. He told her, "Something happened; we need to get out of here."
She didn't know anything was wrong, but Bobby said, "We've got to get out of here right now," and convinced her to walk all the way down the stairs and out of the building. There were other people who said, "Why should we leave? It's a skyscraper. Let's just stay and see what happens."
But she followed Bobby down, and they made it out. Just as they made it out, the entire tower collapsed. Good thing she followed a smart reference point because it determined her life.
Men, tonight, who you choose to follow as a reference point is going to determine your whole life. Some of you, whether you survive at all. A real man chooses correct reference points.
Let's look secondly from our story: a real man rejects envy and competition.
People have wrong ideas about usefulness and worth in our day and age. People think attention is what brings usefulness and worth. That is why people are so obsessed with social media. "Smash that bell! Like it! Do you know how many likes I have? Do you know how many hits my video had? Do you know how many views?"
Because we make the mistake of thinking, "I am worth more if I have attention." Now we come into the things of God, and we think attention is what gives influence. "People will listen to me; people will do what I say if I have attention."
So if you bring those wrong ideas into the kingdom of God and serving God in ministry, very possibly, you will make the things of God a competition. "What is it that's going to make me a success as a man of God? Beating my brother out for attention?"
Mark 9:33-34 says, "Jesus asked the disciples, 'What were you arguing about on the road?' But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest."
"I'm greater than you are." "There's no way you're great; I'm great." Based on what? Is it the number of people saved? "I prayed for a guy; his leg grew one inch. I prayed for a guy; his leg grew two inches. I prayed for a guy; he had no head, and now he's got a head."
What's the basis of saying, "I am greater than you are"? If I get more attention than my brother, then I win. I'm worth more. If I look better than my brother, then I win. If you think that's what makes you a real man of God, it is going to affect your actions.
Now we come into the kingdom of God, and we are forced to work together as disciples. We had Bible studies, and we were instructed that we were to work together to do Bible study leader outreaches. It's your job.
When it was his turn to lead the outreach, whatever it was—a concert, a movie, whatever—it would be like, "Bro, help me! Bro, help me! Bro, help me!" But then you'd see guys when it was somebody else's turn be like, "I'm really busy, dude."
Because what they were afraid of was, "What if I help my brother, and he has a thousand people saved? He stands up behind the pulpit giving a report on Sunday morning, and everyone goes, 'Oh yeah, they'll think he's worth more than me.' You know what? I'm not helping. I don't want that guy to succeed more than me."
As a matter of fact, we try to make them look bad. "Man, that guy you hear about, his outreach had 50 people saved. Yeah, but I hear he's got a bad marriage. Yeah, I think he's mean to puppies too."
I'm just saying, I have to say something negative about my brothers so people will look at them and have a negative opinion. Because what we think is, "If I stab my brother, I wind up looking good." "He's bleeding? Yeah, because you stabbed him. I win; I'm worth more."
This affects our attitudes. This is the Bible principle of envy. Envy means pain at someone else's blessings. So when God blesses our brother, rather than being happy for them—"Thank God you got a house! You got a place to live! You got a car to drive! That's a good car with a heater in the cold or air conditioning in the heat!"—we're not happy.
"Why does he have a car?" Even in the things of God, people got saved. Some prayed that they were going to die, and they lived. That's envy; that's sick.
Even if people's lives are being saved, you know what? I'm sure that's not true for anybody here, but even pastors can have that attitude. They hear that their brother had a good revival, the church is growing, and they're vexed. Lives are being saved from hell, and you're upset.
The problem is we lose sight of the big picture. In our story, the nation was threatened by enemies. The Philistines were coming to enslave the people. The Philistines were coming to kill people. People will die if the Philistines win. That's the big picture.
You should rejoice whoever gets the job done. We should rejoice, but instead, we make everything about ourselves, our egos, our attention.
The story we read about Jonathan is incredible. Jonathan is nothing like that. Think about this: Jonathan was the prince. His father was the king. He was next in line to the throne. He was already in the army when David shows up. Along comes David, and in one moment, everyone's attention is focused on David.
It would have been completely normal—we wouldn't have liked it, but we would understand it—if we said David showed up and they started saying nice things about him. Jonathan got vexed and bitter and wanted to challenge him to a fight. We would say, "Yeah, I get it."
But that's not what he does. Verse four says, "He took off his coat and gave it to David, along with his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt."
When he shows up holding the head of Goliath, he takes this off. He's saying something: "We're not competitors; we're on the same side. We want the same things. We want the enemy to die. Yes, you kill him; I kill him; it doesn't matter; they're dead. The enemy is dead; it helped everybody."
It's clear that instead of being vexed by David's attention, he admired him. "Man, I want to be like you."
It's amazing that Jonathan had the ability to recognize what God was doing through David's life. In other words, it wasn't about him, his plans, his ego, his attention. He takes his robe off, he takes his armor off, and he says, "David, God is doing something good in you, and I recognize it."
His attitude, instead of fighting David, was, "How can I be a blessing to you?" That's a real man. "How can I help God's will in your life?" So he hands these things to David. "I place what I have at your disposal."
That story is incredible because it is rare. It is rare to have a man who is large-hearted enough to recognize good things that God is doing in another brother's life and say, "I see it; I want to be a part of it, and in fact, I want to help you in it."
That is rare; that's a real man.
Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson was a man who faced incredible abuse, especially in away stadiums, with racist comments trying to torment him. He was playing in his own home stadium, and he committed a fielding error. His own fans began to ridicule him, calling out abuse.
He stood at second base with his head hanging down while the fans jeered and mocked him. At that time, the team had a star shortstop, Pee Wee Reese. When he saw what was happening, he came over, stood next to Jackie Robinson, and put his arm around him. He stared the crowd down. He was white; he was a star, and he stared at everyone to shame them until they stopped.
Finally, they stopped their abuse. Jackie Robinson later said that the arm Pee Wee Reese put around his shoulder saved his career.
How can I help somebody else? Not envy, not competition. A real man wants to be a blessing to somebody else.
Let's talk finally about the last thing we learn from Jonathan's life: a real man is a friend.
The story we read is the beginning chapter in which it tells how Jonathan and David become friends. Verse one says, "When David finished talking with Saul, Jonathan felt very close to David. He loved David as much as he loved himself."
People can have a lot of acquaintances, but not many friends. I have so many followers. Listen, the people online, that's not real. They're not the people who are going to show up when you're hurting.
You'd have more followers if you showed pictures of yourself in your underwear. As a matter of fact, that's the real truth. Do something stupid, and you'll get a lot more followers.
Even in the church, you can have a lot of acquaintances but not many friends. According to a recent poll, only about 10% of American men say that they have a good friend.
Loners are not healthy. Sometimes there are literal loners. Technology makes it easy to be a loner. You can play video games in mommy's basement when you're in your 30s and 40s, right? Literal loners; they're not healthy people.
Then there are men who have superficial relationships. You will never truly know how they are doing. "Great!" "How can it be great? You crashed the car, you lost your job, your dog died. What do you mean 'great'?"
But it's always great. "Hey!" There are some men that are worse than that. As I said, because of their own selfish ends, they work against instead of trying to build relationships. Envy, gossip; they're working against men.
I want to tell you something: you need friends. That's the lesson from Jonathan's life. You need friends.
David and Jonathan in the text we just read, they just met, but they don't realize how much they will need each other later on down the road.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says, "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken."
There is a reward in having friends. Life is rich when you have a friend.
I've had times of absolutely no money. I've had times of adequate money. Adequate money is more fun, I can tell you that. But I'm going to tell you what makes you rich is not your bank account; it's your friends.
Our text says that when you're in need, when you're in crisis, a friend will make all the difference.
Later on, having a friend saved David's life. David was invited to come to a feast, but Jonathan sensed his dad was going to try to kill David. "Let me test him." Sure enough, Dad snaps and throws a spear. He sends word: "Not good; this is not a good time to come. He'll try to pin you to the wall."
A friend encouraged him at a crucial moment in life when he didn't think he could go on. Jonathan met with him and strengthened his friend. "You're going to make it; you are going to be the king because God said so. Hang in there; God's going to help you."
So if you need friends, this brings responsibility to a man. Number one, you have to choose to be a friend. Proverbs 18:24 says, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly."
Dale Carnegie, in his famous book "How to Win Friends and Influence People," said, "You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."
Jonathan says, "I want to be your friend." You have to choose that. You have to invest in friendships.
Verse four says, "He took off his coat and gave it to David, along with his armor, his sword, his bow, and his belt." He invested. "How can I be a blessing to you?" There's a cost; it takes time. Friendships take time.
You invest time. You take time out of your schedule to call, email, text. You spend time with them when you can, especially when you think that your friend is discouraged or going through a hard time.
When you hear that they're struggling, that is especially when a real friend calls or visits. "How are you doing, bro? I'm thinking of you; I'm praying for you."
At a crucial moment, our text says you have to fight for friendships. Jonathan fought for David against his father Saul. That's powerful, isn't it? When someone will stand for you.
Ever had this? There are people that they want to—you’re going along happy in life, and they say, "Bro, you got to know what they're saying about you."
And you know my question when they're telling me everything bad that they heard somebody else say? You know what I really want to know? I don't really want to know what bad things they say. What I want to know is, "What did you say?"
Yeah, okay, they said that. But you know what? What did you say?
Listen to this: Charles Coulson was asked to speak at a university. The crowd was already hostile before he began. He had worked for Richard Nixon, who had resigned in disgrace.
Henry Kissinger, who just died yesterday, also worked for Nixon. He had said some vicious things about Richard Nixon. A young man who was already antagonistic asked Charles Coulson, "Do you agree with Henry Kissinger's criticism?"
Charles Coulson looked at the crowd and said, "We all know Richard Nixon's negative qualities. He's been dissected in the press like nobody else in history. I could tell you his good points, but I don't believe I could persuade you to accept them. But what it comes down to is, no, I don't agree with Henry Kissinger's comments. Mr. Nixon is my friend, and I don't turn my back on my friends."
Charles Coulson said for an instant he thought the roof would cave in, but then something unexpected happened. After a moment of silence, the students stood up and gave him a prolonged standing ovation.
Because it's so normal in the world today to stab people, but real men don't stab; real men stand. "He's my friend; I'm standing with him."
No, I'm not talking about covering up sin and never telling the truth when your brother is destroying himself. That's not what I'm talking about.
But it's a powerful thing to stand with a friend. You also fight for friendships by overlooking faults and offenses.
Listen, every human relationship has offenses. At some point, you have the closest friend, and at some point, your friend is going to say something stupid.
How do I know? Little honesty poll: how many of you have ever said something stupid in life that you regret? Okay, that's how I know.
Your brother will say something insensitive that you didn't really want to hear at the time. I see people that the moment there is one little offense, that's it. "Bro, I am done with you."
Listen, if you're going to cut off your brother every time he says or does something stupid, you better buy a cat. No, no, not a cat; a dog. A dog is better; that's a better choice.
You know what friends do? They overlook. Again, I'm not talking about sin, but I'm talking about, you know, he said something offensive. So what? He was having a bad day; he wasn't thinking; he was hangry. Let's give him a candy bar.
The blessing of being a real friend is that if you will not—somebody you want friends, "Will you be my friend? I want the benefit of friendship." No, I'm saying you need to invest in being a friend.
Because the blessing—think about Jonathan. Jonathan didn't survive in life. In a later battle, he was killed in battle. But because he had invested in a friendship, he became a part of all that his friend and his brother became.
David did become king. David did do God's will. David helped people. And even though Jonathan didn't have a long life, everything that David was able to do later on, in some way, Jonathan has a part in that.
I'm going to tell you, that is the blessing of having real friends.
I mean, guys, do you have a real friend? Do you have men that you value in life? I want to tell you, I value my friends.
I have friends that I've had since I was a teenager in Australia: Paul, Graham, Nigel Brown. I've known them since I was a kid; we are still friends. Rob Walsh in Australia, here in America: Paul Stevens, Richard Ruby, Tom Payne, Mark Olson, Scott Lamb, Rich Cox, just to name a few. They are my friends.
I value them. We call sometimes when there are problems; we got issues to discuss. We call just to say, "Hey, do you have a friend?" Is there somebody in your life that says, "They are my friend"?
A part of that, because that's a real man. If you have no friends, you're not a real man because that's what it takes.
And the value is not what you get; it's what you give. And you get to be a part of everything that they become.
Listen to this: in the early 1900s, Albert Einstein was working as a patent clerk. We know that he was brilliant. He was working on these theories of relativity, and this is mathematics beyond a level that I'll ever understand.
But he's working a job in the patent office, filling forms out for other people; that's his job. But in his spare time, he's working on these mathematical theories. It would be difficult, and he would doubt himself: "Am I ever going to work this out?"
But he had a friend, Michael Besso. He was a fellow physicist. They would talk about physics and philosophy, and Besso would encourage Einstein: "Keep going; this is difficult. I'm not sure; keep going, man; you can do it."
When he would doubt whether his theories would actually be proven true, Besso would say, "You're brilliant; you're going to get there; keep going."
Einstein came up with theories that literally changed the world in some ways, but he always acknowledged Michael Besso's role in his achievements.
World War II was won because of Albert Einstein's breakthrough mathematical theories that were able to develop the nuclear bomb and end the war. Michael Besso never achieved the fame that Einstein did, but he had a part in it.
Einstein became famous; Einstein changed the world. Michael Besso said, "I had a part in that."
Are you going to have a part in somebody else's blessing, somebody else's life? Because this is a real man.
A real man chooses correct reference points. A real man rejects envy and competition. And a real man is a friend.
Let's bow our heads and close our eyes all across this place. Thank God.
With our heads bowed and no one looking around for a moment, there are men that are here. I don't know how you came or who invited you, but some of you are not right with God. You can never enter into God's plans for your life. You can never see God truly help you unless you turn from your sin.
I spoke about negative reference points, recreating things that are not good. Some of you are recreating the evil that's been done to you, and you're doing it to yourself and other people. Why don't you break that cycle?
You got to fix the sin problem. The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." You're here tonight, and you're not right with God. You must repent; you must fix that problem.
The only way you can do that is to believe on Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for your sin. He can do a miracle; he can forgive you, and he can change you from the inside out.
You could choose tonight: "I do not want to continue the road that I've been headed down. I want to change." Only God can change you.
How many here are not right with God? You're not born again; you're living in sin, and you want to fix your sin problem. While our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, I want you to do one thing. If you want to pray tonight for God to forgive you and you want to turn from your sin, I want you to signify that by raising your hand right now.
No one's looking around; this is private. Lift up your hand. Hands are going up; many men are lifting their hands. Thank you, thank you, thank you on the sides. God bless you at the back. God bless you; thank you. People are being honest.
Others, you need Jesus. Lift up your hand right now. "I want to turn from my sin." Thank you, thank you. Thank God for these.
Some of you are backsliding. You were saved, but you went back to the same thing that didn't work before. It's not working now. Backslider, why don't you get right with God? Lift up your hand, backslider.
"I want to join these that have already raised their hand. I want to get right with God." Thank God, thank God, thank God. God's dealing with people. God loves you; he wants to help you. Lift up your hand right now all across this place.
Thank God.
I want every man that raised your hand to stand up to your feet right now. Don't wait; do it right now. Stand up, stand up all across this place. Thank you, thank you, thank you all across this place.
At the back, God bless you. Now come out of your seat, come down here, kneel down to the front. I'm going to have someone pray with you. Come right now.
I want a man to pray with every single man here. Don't wait; make sure there's a man praying with every one of these. Lead them in a sinner's prayer. They want to pray; they want to get right with God.
Kneel down anywhere in the front, anywhere in the front. Make sure that someone's praying with every single one of them. Another man here, another man, make your way up here. There you go; come through, reach him.
There you go on the side; make sure there's not a single person left praying alone. Two more here; God bless you. I need another man praying here. There you go; lead them in a sinner's prayer. Help them, help them over on the end.
Thank God, thank God. There you go; help them to pray all across this place. Thank God.
What a wonderful sight: men who want to get right with God. Thank God.
I want you all to stand up to your feet. I'm going to open the altars. If God dealt with you, I want you to come and pray. Do business with God.
"God, I want to choose correct reference points. God, I reject envy and competition. Ask God to change your heart.
"God, I want to be a friend." You cry out to God. Let's believe God that God is going to help us right now.
Oh God, help in the name of Jesus Christ.
Oh God, touch these men. God, help us, enable us to be what you want us to be.
Oh God, I need a miracle dimension. Father God, I'm asking that you will transform right now.
God, forgive us of pride, of envy. Oh God, we reject those negative reference points. God, people who have shown us what not to be.
God, I break that curse off of these men. Oh God, break the curse of the past, wrong reference points. God, heal broken hearts and enable them to choose your will.
Father God, I'm asking you to reach down and help us. Oh God, set these men free, I pray, from competition and envy.
God, forgive us of speaking evil words against our brothers, entertaining gossip.
Oh God, I need you. God, I'm asking for a miracle dimension in hearts and lives.
Oh God, you're able to help. Help us to rejoice when you choose other people, when you bless them.
God, help our hearts to be enlarged that we could rejoice in someone else's blessings.
God, I'm asking that you're going to touch these men. Help them to be friends.
Oh God, help them to make friends, to value friends. God, forgive us of our small hearts that would cut friendships off.
God, help us to be larger; help us to be more like you.
But God, I'm asking you're going to put men together as friends, and it will bless their lives; it will bless other people.
Oh God, I believe that you're going to help us. Father God, you are going to do miracles; you're going to help us, and I thank you, Lord God, in advance for everything you're going to do.
I know you're going to do that.
I want you to say this out loud. I want you to say, "Father God, I want to be a real man. I choose to reject wrong reference points in life and from my past. Help me to choose correct reference points: good men, men of God, faithful men. That's what I want to be.
God, forgive me of pride, selfishness, and envy.
Speaking against my brother and receiving gossip, I repent. I do not want to be like that; I want to be like that. Change my heart; enlarge me and enable me to rejoice when you choose and bless other people.
God, I want to be a friend. I want to be a blessing, investing and helping some other brother so that I can help them and be a part of what you do through them.
And I thank you in advance for what you're going to do.
In Jesus' name, now let's praise God together. God, we thank you! [Applause]