Father's Day 2025: "Becoming a godly man"

Music.

We're talking about tools for godly living. In Joshua 1, God calls Joshua to

lead with strength and courage, not in his own power, but with the tools God provides.

And that's still true today. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by what it means

to be a godly man, husband, father, or leader, this episode is for you.

We'll walk through four essential tools every man needs to live with purpose and power.

So get ready to be encouraged, challenged, and equipped.

And now, here's Pastor Jeff's message. How to Become a Godly Man.

If you have your Bibles, I feel like I'm so far away from you guys.

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Joshua chapter one, Joshua chapter one.

It's one of my favorite books in the Old Testament.

And this particular scripture has been very meaningful to me.

It's brought a lot of comfort to my life.

It's also helped me with determination and encouragement to be able to walk

with the purpose that God has given me.

Me on this journey of life.

Joshua chapter 1 begins, and Moses, our fearless leader of Israel, has passed away.

Joshua 1 · chapter mention

He's this hero of the faith that led the Israelites out of Egypt,

and we saw miracles happen with the children of Israel, and the parting of the

Red Sea, and they'd gone through the wilderness for 40 years.

Now he's died and the Lord is raising up a new leader by the name of Joshua.

And it's here in Joshua 1 that the Lord speaks to Joshua and he gives him instructions

on how to be successful and to be confident in life,

but successful and confident also in leading the children of Israel into the promised land.

And if you were going to break down chapter one, this is what I wrote down in

my Bible, actually years ago when I was studying, that verses one through five,

I labeled the promises of God.

It's where God is saying, this is what I'm going to give to you.

This is what I've got for you. This is where we're going.

This is how it's going to be done. And then verse five talks about the presence

of God, but it also talks about the overwhelming task of.

And the possibility of fear. Because isn't it easy for us to have fear when

we're given a big job to do?

When God calls us to something new, especially like being a leader over the

children of Israel, I can't imagine the fear and the anxiety that would cause in a brand new leader.

And so verse three, the Lord says, it's time. It's time to go.

This is what we've been waiting for. We're going to cross into the promised land.

And then in verse four, the Lord provides detailed description of how they're

going to do that and begins to give, this is the areas that you're going to go into.

And then we pick it up in verse five and here's what it says. Follow along.

No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live.

I will be with you just as I was with Jesus.

Man, if I've already, if God just visited me and spoke that to me,

it's a win already. Like I'm ready to go.

I can do anything if I know that God's called me to do something and that his

presence goes with us, that he's never going to leave us or that he's never going to abandon us.

Verse six, he says, so be strong and courageous for you will distribute the

land I swore to their ancestors to give them as an inheritance.

Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction.

He doesn't just say courageous. He says, be very courageous because the Lord

knows that it's going to take us, it's going to take you and I a lot of courage

if we're going to carefully follow,

carefully observe the whole instruction that he's given to us.

And he says, the whole instruction of my servant Moses commanded you,

do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you will have success wherever you go.

Verse eight, this book of instruction must not depart from your mouth.

You are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe.

There's that word again, everything written in it.

We're to meditate on the word of God. We're to have it on our lips and on the

forefront of our minds so that we act and we speak and we love with the love

and the words that God has.

For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. Verse 9,

haven't I commanded you, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged,

for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

This morning, as we look at just some basic tools, we're talking about tools that God has given us.

I want to give you just a few tools that you can put in your handyman belt or

handywoman belt, that you can live in such a way that you will be prosperous,

that God will protect you from consequences.

Because isn't that really what the blessing of God is on our lives,

that we live in blessings?

Tool number one, if you're taking notes, the Word of God is our first tool.

And this is our tool of truth.

God gave us his word. And if you think if you're a tool guy or a construction

guy or a builder, you'd think of it as a plumb line. It's our standard of truth.

It's our standard of truth. And just like guys use plumb lines or girls use

plumb lines in construction to ensure that the walls are straight, that the house is true.

The Word of God serves as an unchanging standard of truth in our lives,

an unchanging standard of righteousness that we are supposed to align our lives

with in order to live out His will for us.

God's Word is our standard of truth.

That's why I want to be in it all the time. That's why I want my kids to be

in it. That's why I want you to be in it. It is our standard of truth.

But it also reveals our deviation.

It reveals when something's imperfect in our lives. It shows us when something

is a little crooked in our life.

The Word of God is a mirror, and when we look into it, it exposes our own sin, doesn't it?

It tells me that, man, you're not loving the way you should be loving,

or you're not giving enough grace, or you're not being forgiving as you should be forgiving.

It tells us where sin is sin. It calls for correction.

So it's a standard of truth. It reveals our deviations. And then it's an unchanging reference.

A plumb line doesn't change based on opinion or circumstances.

In the same way, God's word remains constant. It remains reliable regardless

of any shifts in personal feelings or culture.

I love the way the Lord said this in verse 7. He said, Be strong and courageous

to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left.

Why? Why would he give us these instructions? Why would he say,

don't go to the left, don't go to the right?

It's that next sentence. So that you will have success wherever you go.

Listen, God is not in heaven watching you and wanting just to judge,

judge, judge, judge. Yes, he's judged.

Yes, he is our judge. But God is for you.

That's why he's given us his word, because he wants you to be successful.

He wants you to find his purpose in your life.

He says you'll have success when you don't stray from the word of God to the left or to the right.

He says be careful to observe.

When you study that, the Hebrew word there is shamar, which means to keep watch, to guard, to protect.

The word of God keeps guard over our hearts and our minds and our actions and

our intentions and our emotions and our words.

Because guess what? I don't have it in me that I can just will myself to have

great words or great actions or great anything.

The only thing that's good in me is Jesus Christ.

He says, don't stray to the left. Don't stray to the right.

The command here implies the necessity that we must have an unwavering commitment to God's word.

We have to have an unwavering commitment to God's word. Men,

the greatest way that you can model strength and courage in your life is to

never turn away from the Word of God.

I was talking with a friend this morning in my office. Man, if we could just

implement everything the Word of God says about being a man,

I'd be the greatest husband in the world.

My wife's like, yeah, do that, do that.

If I could apply everything that Paul told me about serving and loving my family,

I think a lot of our families would look a little different.

And maybe you haven't used the word of God as a tool before.

Begin to use it as a tool for your parenting.

It's the why. It's the how. It's the who.

Why. And so my challenge to you, young men and grandfathers and dads and single dads,

my challenge to all of us is that we get into the word of God,

that we carefully observe everything it says.

There's a direct link between our obedience to God and his blessings on our lives.

And again, I'm not talking about that false prosperity gospel that's out there.

I'm saying that if you obey God, that says if you obey God, you'll be wealthy

and healthy and you'll have everything that you've ever wanted.

That's not what biblical blessings is. What it means is that a life that's lived

out of obedience to the word of God will result in peace,

will result in joy and contentment as you live out a life of purpose that God has for you.

Those are the things that a lost world looking at us should see,

that when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death,

that we will fear no evil.

Why? Because he's with us. He goes with us. We don't have a reason to be afraid. We don't.

What it means is that a life lived out of obedience of God will result in the

character of God being reflected in our lives.

See, there's a satisfaction that only comes when we live a life that is bringing

glory and honor to God. That's why we were created.

2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17 says, all scripture, all scripture,

not just parts of it, all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for

teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.

Why? so that the man or woman, so that the man of God may be complete,

equipped for every good work.

The Bible is relevant, friends. It's not some ancient book. It's the only book that is alive.

It is the very word of God to you and to me.

It corrects us when we need it. Man, I need it. I need correcting. I need godly rebuke.

It trains us to be righteous and what that is supposed to look like.

Listen to this quote. I wish I knew who said it, but when I Googled it, it said unknown.

And, you know, Google, it knows everything, apparently. But it says this,

a godly man is shaped by truth.

He reads the Bible not just to know about God, but to know God personally. Let me say that again.

A godly man is shaped by truth.

He reads the Bible not just to know about God, but to know God personally.

We don't read the Bible to know more about God.

We read the Bible to know God more.

You with me? The more that you're in the Word of God, the more you know Him,

the more He reveals Himself to you.

We must be men and women who are in the Word of God.

Why? so that we can walk righteously, so that we can be the gospel story to

someone, so that you'll be equipped for everything that God has for you.

I don't know about you, but my life is too difficult to live without using the proper tools.

I want to use the proper tools that God has given us. The first one is the word of God.

The second one is prayer. This is our power tool.

It's our power tool. How many of you, I, I, my, my mind automatically goes,

and maybe I'm a little old Tim, the tool man, Taylor.

Oh, he loved power tools.

The Binford, right? He would, he'd take his lawnmower and it had like a,

I don't know, since I'm not a car guy, I don't know. He made a big engine.

So it would go vroom, vroom, go fast. But he, he, he put power on everything.

And that's what prayer does.

James 5 says, the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

I hope in your Christian walk that you have seen firsthand the power of a praying life.

Be men and women that pray regularly, that practice the presence of Christ in

your life, do life, go throughout your day, talking to the Lord,

talking to the Holy Spirit, asking for direction,

listening to the Lord, listening to the Spirit.

The other day, last Wednesday night during youth group, we had a little storm.

It was all, I'll just put it like this. It was a memorable youth group.

Go ahead and put that picture up.

We had some transformers explode across the street and we had a tree that,

this is our tree that is right in this little island at the drop-off. The tree fell over.

We had no, you know, it was so dark and all the lights went out and little,

you know, people were screaming and that was just me, but it was memorable.

Now, what if I would have just come out here and said, Hey, Dan,

we got a tree down and, uh, could you come bring your saw?

Maybe some clippers. I don't know. Scissors sharp, make them sharp,

but no, what I called Dan up.

Dan brought his trailer, his friend, and they had power saws.

They had chainsaws and they're out there and within

like 40 minutes i walk out there

and it's completely cleaned up there's like one leaf that was left dan dan you're

in here would you have wanted to do that without power tools i know the answer

to that there's no way any of us would want to attempt something like that without power tools.

And yet we live our lives and we think that we can accomplish great big things,

but we're not plugging into the power source, which is Jesus Christ.

If we want to live powerful lives for the gospel, then we need to live plugged into a life of prayer.

Some of us, we got to stop using our old, our grandpa's old handsaw,

and we need to use a chainsaw.

What would have taken Dan multiple days, probably, with a handsaw,

he was able to accomplish in a fraction of the time because of the power of

the tool that he was using. And that's what prayer does.

Prayer has the ability to accomplish things that seem impossible.

Prayer has the ability to accomplish things

that seem impossible prayer can move

the hearts of kings it can open doors that

have been closed for years it can tear down strongholds in someone's life there

are situations and relationships and in a room this size i know that there are

things that you struggled with

that said man this thing's never going to change in that person's life,

I've been praying for 50 years that this person would come to Christ.

Keep praying. Keep praying.

God will move unmovable situations and challenges in your life right now when you go to him in prayer.

It's the only thing that will move them.

And it's the effective and earnest prayers of a righteous man or woman of God.

Stop trying to accomplish things on your own, my friend.

Use the tool of prayer. We ought to be a praying people.

A godly man doesn't try to be strong alone. He draws strength from God.

I know it's our guy-man complex. We want to do things on and on.

Honey, you need help carrying those groceries?

I got my hands through 30 plastic Walmart bags. No, I got it. I got it. I got it. Why?

Because I'm an idiot. Because I think I can do everything myself,

right? We just, we have that complex, man.

We don't need help. We can do it. But a godly man doesn't try to be strong alone.

He draws his strength from God.

Some of you, I just want to encourage you, draw your strength from God.

You're in a situation you find yourself in this morning. and you might feel

weak. You might feel overwhelmed.

You're trying to do life on your

own strength. Stop doing life on your own strength. Find strength in God.

1 Thessalonians 5.17. It's an incredibly long passage. It says this, pray constantly.

Hey, that's a verse I can even memorize.

Pray constantly. Don't stop praying.

That'd make a great song. Maybe Matthew West could write a song like that.

But that's a verse that all of us can memorize. Listen to this promise in Psalm 145, 18.

The Lord is near to all who call out to him, all who call out to him with integrity.

That word is also translated as truth.

When you call out in truth, integrity, The condition here is that he is near

when we call out to him in honesty, when we call out to him from a sincere heart.

In an act of complete devotion and dependence on God.

Let me give you just a couple practical applications about prayer.

Here's the how of prayer. We approach God with confidence.

Did you know we can approach God with confidence?

How do we do that? How are we supposed to approach the creator of the universe,

the one who spoke creation into being, and then expect him to care about my

broken down car or my struggle with my kids or, Jen,

the struggle with our kids' broken down cars.

Whatever problem you may be facing, he cares about, and we can go to him with confidence.

He says in Hebrews 4, 15 and 16, For we do not have a high priest who is unable

to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are.

Here's the key, yet without sin.

Therefore, because of this, he's saying, therefore, when it says therefore,

it means because of what we just read, because we have Jesus who is able to sympathize with us,

let us approach the throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help us in time of need.

We can have confidence when we approach the Lord because he knows just how hard life can be.

He knows it better than us. He went through everything we ever will experience.

And scripture says that the God of the universe has sympathy when you struggle.

He has sympathy with you. He understands what you're going through.

And so come to him with boldness that we may receive mercy and grace.

How many of you are in need of mercy this morning? I am. How many of you need

his grace all over your life? Absolutely.

Come to him boldly. Come with confidence.

Confidence. The third tool that we need to become godly men is the Holy Spirit.

And this is the tool of transformation.

Transformation. You see, there's a spiritual battle, a spiritual conflict that's

going on in every one of us.

It's a battle between our human flesh and God's desire for us.

There's a battle between the spirit and the flesh.

And Paul says in Galatians 5, I say then, walk by the spirit.

Why? He says, walk by the spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desires of the flesh.

For the flesh desires what is against the spirit and the spirit desires what is against the flesh.

These are opposed to each other so that you don't do what you want.

How many of you know that's true. Man, I want to be the greatest dad and the most godly dad.

And I get angry and I yell and I act in an ungodly way sometimes. Why?

Because there's a battle going on. There's a battle in each one of us.

And Paul says, walk by the Spirit.

Walk by the Spirit so that you don't fulfill the desires of the flesh.

Here's what that means. To walk by the Spirit means living a lifestyle where

one's actions, thoughts, and attitudes are directed by the Spirit.

We've got to get to a place where we're allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our

lives. And to do that, guess what?

You have to be able to hear the Holy Spirit, to obey the Holy Spirit,

to yield your will to His will.

Guess what? Unfortunately, when we come to Christ, we're not perfect.

We don't come to Christ all cleaned up. We just come. We just come as we are.

But it's the Holy Spirit as we get into the Word of God, and we read it,

and we get to know the Lord, that the Holy Spirit begins to transform us and

remake us and change our desires so that as we walk by the Spirit,

we start putting those other desires of the flesh behind us,

and our desire to serve ourselves becomes a lot less, and our desire to please

the Lord becomes everything within us.

It requires active participation.

Say no to the flesh and yes to God. We have to actively surrender.

There's a direct relationship between obedience to God and the presence of the

Holy Spirit in our lives.

There's a direct relationship. When we're obedient to the Word of God,

you will find yourself walking more in the presence of God.

He's with you wherever you go. And the Spirit enables us to say no to the things

we should say no to, and yes to the things that God wants for us.

But without the Spirit, we're trying to fight spiritual battles with human tools,

with human tools, and we won't be successful.

Start each day, good morning, Lord, I surrender to you.

I want to walk with you. ask for the Holy Spirit's help, that you wouldn't be

tempted, that you wouldn't be discouraged, that you'd be bold with your witness,

that you'd have opportunities.

The Spirit doesn't just clean you up. He sets you free from our desires and

our consequences of walking in the flesh.

The fourth tool that we need to become godly men today is this.

We need godly community.

We do. We need community. And this is the tool of brotherhood.

Proverbs 27, 17 says, iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.

See, when we come together as men, we make each other stronger.

Ladies, when you come together next week for women's renewed gathering,

you make each other sharper and stronger. And we gather.

You know, yesterday we had the opportunity to gather and we were able to gather as men.

And we looked at what it meant and what it means to have an upright life,

to live in such a way where we're blameless before the Lord,

where our families are blessed, where we're praying for each other,

where we're praying over our children.

Takes intentionality, guys. It's so easy. If there's someone that wants to sleep

on a Saturday morning, guess what?

This guy. I want to sleep in on a Saturday morning. But I left yesterday morning encouraged.

And I know some of these guys that were here left encouraged when they came

and their spirits were heavy.

Iron sharpens iron. And in the body of Christ, we need real and raw,

intimate relationships of brotherhood and sisterhood.

Community requires intentionality and effort.

Intentionality and effort. It takes us signing up for those things that we don't

want to sign up for because it's going to build your spiritual muscles.

It's going to turn you, it's going to help you be more of what God has for you.

But it also requires humility, honest, and vulnerability.

If we're going to grow in our spiritual lives, we've got to be humble,

we've got to be honest, and we've got to be vulnerable.

That is not easy for us men, is it? We don't want to ask for help.

We don't want to say, hey, bro, can we meet? I'm just struggling with this.

I'm being tempted in this area. I just need some accountability.

It takes intentionality and it's hard and it's difficult, but we have to do it.

We have to, guys. We need to lead in that.

You'll never become a godly man or woman living in isolation.

That's not how God created us. God created us for community.

Hebrews 10 says, let us consider one another.

Let me pause here. The Apostle Paul begins with this call. It's an intentional

reflection. He says, let us consider.

The original Greek term for consider here implies a deep attention,

a contemplation about something.

So Paul's encouraging us as believers to think intentionally,

to think intentionally and to reflect on how we can positively influence one another's lives,

so he says, think intentionally about what I'm about to say he says,

provoke unto love and to good words, good works,

the word provoke in the Greek here is paroximus which is a strong expression

that implies a deliberate action.

For me to encourage another brother or ladies for you to encourage another lady, guess what?

It takes an intentionality to walk across the room.

It takes an intentionality to pick up your phone and text and say,

hey, you want to grab coffee?

I'd love just to get to know you. I'd love to hear your story,

how you came to Christ. I'd love to encourage you in a way.

Takes intentional living. We are to be intentional, and we are to contemplate

every day and give great attention to how we can love one another,

how we can reach each other, how we can do good works,

to gather as Christians.

And then in verse 25, he says, not

forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.

He said, don't be like those people that don't come on Sundays.

Don't be those people that don't gather during the week and go to their group.

No, don't do that.

But exhort one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.

We have to be intentional in loving one another, in supporting one another,

and encouraging growth.

And as we wrap up this morning, I just, I want to say this.

None of this is possible without a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I think one of the most amazing things about this passage that I love is

verse 9, and I want to read it again.

He says, Have I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or

discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

One of the greatest promises of Scripture is that we do not do this life alone.

You may be wrestling. You may be walking through something. Guess what? You are not alone.

You're not alone. He's with you. He's walking with you.

His spirit is within you, and he's empowering you to live for him.

You can do it. You've been given the tools.

Put on your spiritual belt. Live it.

Music.

Our lives be built upon you. God, I pray that you would help us to be men and women,

that take advantage of the tools that you've given us, that we would use them

in our lives, that we would be in the word, that we wouldn't stray to the left

or to the right, that we wouldn't allow it to change, that we'd be obedient,

that the power of the Holy Spirit would be working and empowering us to do things

we wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

God, help us to be intentional in our walks, intentional to serve,

intentional to love, intentional to reach out to other people and encourage them and build them up.

We need the body of Christ, which is so beautiful, yet so broken and so in need

of you, yet you died for us.

Father on this day that we celebrate father's day we celebrate you,

and we want to say thank you for being a good good father for sending jesus to die for us,

jesus thank you for surrendering your will to the father Father,

Holy Spirit, empower us to live a life that reflects your glory.

Music.