AS A MAN YOU MUST ACT

What do you have to do?

1. Build friendships.

With a Christian man or men – Proverbs 27:17 – As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.(NIV)
Agree to meet together on a regular basis. This is for encouragement and accountability)

2. Become transparent.

Be open with each other – Proverbs 27:5 – Better is open rebuke than hidden love.(NIV)

Confess your faults to each other – Pray for each other.
–James 5:13-16
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.(NIV)16, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."

3. Become accountable.

Hold each other accountable. (Correct a fellow believer) – Be constructively critical of each other – Matthew 18:15-17, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

4. Be an encourager – Hebrews 3:12-15 – “…But encourage one another daily,…”

Proverbs 25:11 – “Timely advice is as lovely as gold apples in a silver basket.”
To be an encourager means to strengthen, help and fortify others. To be a sharer is to be an associate, a partner, to participate with others. To spur means to stimulate or incite. To encourage is to call near, to invite, to comfort, to pray and to exhort.
Hebrews 10:24,25 – “…. spur one another…. let us encourage one another – and all the more as we see the Day approaching.”
A church, a family, a nation is only as strong as its men are.
“God requires manhood from all men.” Don’t be afraid of pressure. Remember that pressure is what turns a lump of coal into a diamond. James 1:2-4 – “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,….Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”