5 Pillars of Manhood & Womanhood

This Sunday we had Jaeson Ma (http://www.jaesonma.com/) speak at our church.  We were impacted by his challenge to embrace discipleship (bearing the outward fruit of becoming like Jesus that comes from an inward experience of God's grace), his encouragement to plant 12 churches in 5 years (only God can help us do that!), and his vision for more instruments, more teams, more songs, and more prayer to fuel an extraordinary outbreak of the worship of Jesus in the Fenway.

Recently, Jaeson wrote a blog entry that went viral (the servers for his blog went down because of all the hits!) called the 5 Pillars of Manhood.  I believe all the hits highlight a serious hunger in our culture to know what manhood is really all about; a subject we are addressing in our church's series on Sex, Love & Identity.  Personally, I have a life-long commitment to train young men to be real men.  We need fathers, brothers, and men of courage to step up in our churches and culture.  Jaeson's post also raised some comments from my friends - what does becoming a godly woman look like?

So, I've first put together some scripture references for all you guys to look up that will show why Jaeson's 5 pillars of manhood are Biblical. So first read Jaeson's blog entry. Then, get your Bible out, roll up your sleeves & go see what God has to say about your identity.

5 Pillars of Manhood
1) Lead - Titus 2:6-8, Ephesians 5:23, I Timothy 2:12-14
Remember the call to lead in a marriage relationship is a call to servant leadership that starts with serving your sisters now, see below.
2) Protect - Genesis 2:15, I Timothy 6:11-12, I Timothy 5:1-2
The word "keep" in Genesis means tend/guard/protect.
3) Provide - Proverbs 24:27, Genesis 2:15, Matthew 25:14-30, Ephesians 5:25-29
In other words get a job so you can get married and provide for your wife (or give to the kingdom), be provider not a consumer.
4) Integrity - Daniel 1:8 Corinthians 6:18, I Timothy 6:13-14
We must follow through, prove our commitment, and be culture shapers not cultural sponges.
5) Courage - I John 2:13-14, Matthew 10:16-20, Joshua 1:6-7
It takes courage to preach the gospel, start a family, and live as a light in this world. Do it!

And for the ladies... 

 

Note that I spoke with my mother (an amazing woman of God, teacher, and mother of 6!) who provided the majority of this material and scripture references as an older woman instructing younger women (per Titus 2:3).  When you read this, hear her voice coming through. Let's go!

5 Pillars of Womanhood

1) Worship - Luke 7:36-50, John 5:15-20, John 12:1-11, Luke 2:36-38, Exodus 38:8
God is seeking women after his own heart.  He is passionately in love with you and wants you to be passionately in love with him.  All of our lives (men and women) are an act of worship, but women are especially seen as lavish worshippers in the Bible.  The sinful woman washing Jesus' feet with her tears.  The Samaritan woman at the well seeking a place of worship.  Mary breaking her alabaster vial.  And Anna's life of continual prayer and fasting modeled after the Old Testament women who ministered to the Lord at the entrance to his Presence, the tabernacle.  A woman's passion should be to please her Lord through a life centered around the extravagant worship of Him. Single woman have a unique opportunity to be single-mindedly devoted to God.  Fight being distracted by trying to find mister right or getting ensnared in wordly pursuits.  Your creativity, devotion, love, and emotions are all meant to be used as expressions of worship and praise to God.  He loves to minister to you and loves when you minister back to Him.  You were created for worship and relationship.

2) Worry-Free - I Corinthians 7:34-35, Luke 10:41-42, I Peter 1:3-4, Matthew 6:50
God wants you to be worry free!  Free from all worry! He doesn't want you to be anxious about your appearance, adornments, or about pleasing anybody (if you are single, wives you get to please your husbands!).  God has actually called you to be anxious about only one thing the development of your spirit in holiness and devotion to him.  That is something HE is glad to do inside of you - his yoke is easy and his burden is light - he delights to shape you into his own image.  He wants you to be a woman at rest in the midst of busyness, at peace in the midst of turmoil. Like Jesus he wants you to have a quiet and gentle spirit (Matthew 11:28-30) that is unfazed by the proliferation of tasks or the judgments of others.

3) Inner Beauty - I Peter 1:3-4, I Timothy 2:9-10, I Timothy 3:11, Proverbs 31:30-31 
My mom says, "God wants us as women to be focused on our inner person not our outward appearance. We are not to be defined by 'being wearers of costly garments' but by the inner beauty God created us with (Genesis 1:27)."  The devil subverts your true beauty causing you to compare yourself with others or malign them with your words.  You were created for so much more.  You don't need to be in a relationship to prove your worth or have a boyfriend to tell you are beautiful.  God knows you are beautiful and created you to be respected for who you are on the inside - not by success, money, power, or appearance.  God loves your healthy humility that is based on your sense of self-worth and your respectable modesty that is based on the knowledge you do not need to be seen by others.  You are called to be trustworthy and temperate.  It is your inner beauty that he longs for others to know - a gentle and quiet heart at rest in the midst of a world that glorifies fleeting charm and fading outward beauty.  Your fear and knowledge of the Lord is what will bring you praise even from an unbelieving world.  The way of humility and inner beauty is the path to honor, success, and affirmation.

4) Devotion - I Corinthians 7:34 (NIV), Ephesians 5:22, I Timothy 5:10, Genesis 2: 18, Acts 21:9
Women are created to nurture others.  They naturally nurture growing babies in their womb and are called to create a nurturing home environment for their husbands, children, and the church.  The word devotion means ardently dedicated and loyal.  This describes so many of the wives, mothers, and sisters I know.  Women are called in this order to be devoted:

To the Lord.
To their husbands.
To their children.
To the church.

Wives model Jesus' obedience, humility, and servanthood when they submit to their husbands leadership and make their first focus their home, husband, and children.  The Proverbs 31 wife finds times for both her primary call of homemaking and for business opportunities!  Go girls! Women, you are called to be helpers just like the Holy Spirit is a powerful helper to us (John 14:26).  Godly women devote themselves to serving the church and meeting the needs of its poor and ministries.  They are deacons and prophetesses, servants and queens, judges and mothers, church planters and worship leaders, and so much more.  Women, your devotion to God and your devotion to others reveal the loving heart of God and the majesty of his character.  He is 100% dedicated to the fulfillment of your desires and is ardently loyal to his daughters who bring him unimaginable joy.

5) Works - I Timothy 2:9-10, Acts 9:36-39, Luke 8:3, I Timothy 5:14, Titus 2:5, Proverbs 31:10-31
Women, you are called to good works. It is the outward fruit of your inner life with Jesus.  Dorcas, who is one of the few people ever raised from the dead beside Jesus, was described as full of good works and charity.  Her care for the poor was exemplary.  Some of Jesus disciples, who were women, supported Jesus' ministry out of their own means.  Women, especially single women, can use the skills and talents God has given them to generate wealth for the kingdom. Women are called to be managers, entrepreneurs, home makers, real estate buyers, and to use their creative abilities in fashion, business, the arts and more.  Women are called to work hard and plan ahead.  You are to maximize every gift God has given you to reveal how great God is to others.  Your good works will praise you and bring glory to God.

Why I am going to the Boston Night of Worship (Oct 29)

Fenway Family, let's join with the body of Christ in this moment.  DW

http://www.bnow2010.com/

Throughout scripture, praise is a weapon that releases captives, snatches victory away from the hands of defeat, and delivers God's people. It is the sound of praise that drove demons from the mind of Saul, tore down the walls of Jericho, broke the chains off the apostles' feet, and delivered the city of Jerusalem from certain destruction. Praise is the sound of worship when still in captivity, joy when foundations are laid yet a work not complete, and jubilation when your enemies lie defeated at the bottom of the Red Sea.

Too often the church has chosen between apathy and distress rather than victory or defeat. A people that have been bought out of captivity, cleansed by the blood, delivered out of darkness, adopted into God's family, and made alive together with Jesus should never be forced to choose between the twin evils of lethargy and fear. Sadly, today if you were to read mainstream newspapers or some Christian newsletters, you would be tempted to think the church in America has been neutered, the age of Islam is at hand, and the moral decay of America may have at last tipped the scales towards judgment. Anger and pessimism, sorrow and sadness, complaining and fear seem to mark the church. Efforts to pray focus on the oppressing gloom and increasing darkness of our nation rather than the glorious future God has promised his church.

It is therefore no “small coincidence” that God has chosen to raise up in this region and for such a time as this a young man from the continent of Africa, Zenzo Matoga, who resonates with a sound that casts out fear, proclaims freedom, announces victory, and calls the Church to set their eyes on Jesus. In a region that has for decades lived under the oppressive atmosphere of man-made religion, humanistic education, and self-glorifying achievement, a movement (Boston Night of Worship http://www.bnow2010.com/ ) has emerged that echos the cry of Paul, “Set your mind on things above (where Christ is seated at the right hand of God!). And not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:1-2)

I believe the favor God has bestowed upon Zenzo and the Boston Night of Worship (as witnessed by the thousands that gathered and the hundreds that were turned away at last fall's Night of Worship at MIT) is not just the result of individual or corporate consecration or expectation, but a sovereign move of God in which he intends to shake his church free from apathy and fear and deliver a death blow to the strongholds of humanism and intellectualism that have for far too long kept New England ensnared. I will be the first to confess that a spirit of heaviness has pervaded and controlled much of New England and its church. It is my understanding from scripture that the God-ordained prescription for a spirit of heaviness is to put on a garment of praise (Isaiah 61). This means putting off seasons of mourning, shedding the rags and ashes of solemn fasts, and standing in the beauty and gladness that have been bestowed on us in Christ.

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Roads in Fenway Closed Sunday September 26

Please be aware as you plan your travel to our Sunday gathering.

DCR WILL CLOSE SEVERAL ROADWAYS

TO ACCOMMODATE “HUB ON WHEELS” BICYCLE RIDE

The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) will close several roadways in Boston on Sunday to accommodate the thousands of riders expected for the Hub on Wheels charity bicycle ride through the city.

WHEN: Sunday

Sept. 26, 2010

7 a.m. – 11 a.m.

WHERE: Storrow Drive and Soldiers Field Road

Westbound (outbound) from Charles Circle to Eliot Bridge

Eastbound (inbound) from Eliot Bridge to Bowker Overpass



Bowker Overpass (which carries traffic from the Fenway onto Storrow Drive)

The Fenway

Between Westland Avenue and Boylston Street



Boylston Street

Between Ipswich Street and Hemmingway Street

Park Drive

Between Boylston Street and Brookline Avenue

University Road



Agassiz Road

Riverway

Southbound (outbound) from Park Street to Brookline Avenue

Morrissey Boulevard

Right lane northbound from Freeport Street to the entrance of UMass/Boston

Exit ramp from Interstate 93 northbound onto Morrissey Boulevard

Closed from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Sex, Love & Identiy Series - Starting September 26

Click here to view Facebook Event

Blackberries, up to the second tweets & 100s of facebook friends. Are we missing anything? Are life long partners, deep friendships & committed relationships still possible? In a 21st century city where lonely people feign security and views on sex, love & relationships are constantly evolving, is there a path to meaningful living?

Discover why God Loves Sex, what Real Love is, how Sexuality & Identity shape us & how Fulfilling Relationships are possible in our new series “Sex, Love & Identity.”

Sundays 11AM @ Fenway Church

September 26 - God Loves Sex

October 3 - Real Love

October 10 - Sexuality & Identity

October 17 – Fulfilling Relationships







NEW AUDIO PAGE

By now, I hope you have visited our new website: http://www.fenwaychurch.org 

It looks great and has a good amount of information about our church and ways to connect with our community.

In the process of transitioning the website, all the links for our past audio files were destroyed.  I've taken down all the "NEW AUDIO" entries on this blog.  I encourage you to visit our NEW MEDIA PAGE - http://www.fenwaychurch.org/media and click on the media player to watch and listen to most of our past messages right on your web browser.  It is an awesome resource.

An Impossible Life

Do you reach out for things that are beyond yourself?  Are you living for dreams that currently seem unattainable?  Does the thought of something beyond your control terrify you or cause you to want to dive right in?
Too often we let dreams and visions that we've had fade into the rear view mirror because they seem impossible or impractical.  We settle for a life of low expectations and therefore fewer dissapointments.  But is that  how we were meant to live?

I like to think about a few fishermen 2,000 years ago who were coming back from an exhausting night of work.  No fish = no money.  They were broke, tired, and probably stank.  They had no expectations, no dreams, and seemingly no future.  I doubt any of them could have imagined leaving the shores of Galilee. Yet on their way back from work, something happened. They met a man named Jesus. They'd probably seen him before even heard him speak. They respected him enough to begrudingly and faithlessly throw their nets over "the other side of the boat" like a kid that says "if I have to" and then half-heartedly picks up a handful of the hundreds of toy pieces he needs to clean up.

What they didn't know was because of their simple obedience they were about to move from having an idea of who Jesus was to encountering his life-changing power.  They threw their nets into a situation that seemed impossible and before they knew it they were exploding with fish!  So improbable and impossible seemed this turn of events that Peter was left terrified begging Jesus to leave him alone because he felt too sinful to be around this man who held such divine power.

Jesus didn't leave Peter grovelling on the deck of his boat; instead he invited Peter to leave his nets and follow him.  And Peter, his brothers, and his friends began a journey into what moments earlier they would thought to have been an impossible life.

A few year later, Peter and friends would find themselves alone in an upper room in a city which had mocked and killed their best friend and heavenly emissary, Jesus.  He had commissioned them with another impossible task to testify to the whole world about who He was. 

Peter and friends threw their nets in one last time.  Out of simple obedience, they hosted a series of daily prayer meetings, and one morning they encountered the life-changing power of Jesus once again. This time in a different but even more powerful form - the Holy Spirit.  The result was 3,000 people met Jesus that day and started their own impossible life. The world would never been the same.

Throw your net on the other side. Pray with Jesus. Encounter his power. Live an impossible life. Join us at...

Fenway Church's Fall Kickoff Prayer Meeting

Monday September 13 @ 7PM

874 Beacon Street  Boston  2nd floor

http://www.fenwaychurch.org/calendar.php?pageID=6

Fenway Families Magician Show @ Ramler Park (Saturday Aug 21 @ NOON)

Ramler Park is located across from 139 Peterborough Street between Kilmarnock St. & Park Dr. in the heart of the Fenway.

AtsMagic
http://www.atsmagic.com/