Be A Man Of God On Purpose

Paul Washer writes, “The mark of a man of God is God upon the man.”

Pastor Ray shares a message from his current series “On Purpose” titled, Be A Man of God.

What is Ridgecrest Baptist Church - Sermons?

Ridgecrest Baptist Church is located in Dothan, AL and exists to Reach the lost, Build the believer, and Connect people of God to the mission and purpose of God.

increasingly sore and I have to tell you something I didn't feel very manly I felt like I gave my man card up there on the street in Indianapolis but you know I thought Lord that's perfect that's perfect for what I'm talking about because I want to talk about being a man of God not being a manly man though I think that's very important especially in this culture it's very important but God reminded me of something Ray being a manly man is good but being a godly man is even more important in my earliest pastorate I had a group of leaders come to me and they said pastor we want to make you an offer they said if you will remain here as our pastor for at least 10 more years we are prepared to purchase a million dollar annuity for you and it will be yours after 10 years regardless of what you do with no strings attached they had the documents in hand and they said all we need you to do is just sign this document saying that you will you'll stay with us for another 10 years and then that million dollars will be yours wow I'm a young man I've got a family that would have been incredible money just 10 years but I told them while I was honored and they were good men they were men of means and they were good men and the Lord had brought them into our church through our ministry and and I told them I was honored and they were good men they were men of means and they were good men and I told them I said I'm so honored by your offer and I said I'm not looking to leave I said as far as I know I said God will keep me here for another 10 years I'm not looking to leave but then I said but I can't accept the offer and I told them they said well why not and I said well because I'm afraid it would affect my ability to listen to God I said I'm afraid that would cause me instead to simply put in my time thinking how many more years do I have before that million dollars becomes mine now don't think I didn't struggle with the decision I did but my fear was that I would become a man of the people rather than a man of God and by the way I'm not suggesting that I've arrived at the ladder now I will say this I'm 64 now and if another group wants to come to me and talk about that y'all just meet me in the welcome center after the service is over I thought about that and then I it caused me to reflect on a story about a great preacher named G. Campbell Morgan the 19th and early 20th century his ministry was so powerful that he was given all kinds of offers from many different places and many different people he preached in the great Westminster Chapel before the Martin Lloyd Jones he was considered the one of the prince of preachers during his era in the late 1800s early 1900s he was so well known and he came to by the way he came he followed D.L. Moody as the head of the the northern schools there Moody Bible Institute we know now today he did that and did a phenomenal job there became so popular not only in Britain but in America that there was one of the great business moguls of the era John Wanamaker John Wanamaker was became an enormously wealthy man through department stores in Chicago and Philadelphia and New York you may know later they were bought out and the name was changed to Lord and Taylor's and so John Wanamaker had become enormously wealthy but he was a very devoted Christian and Wanamaker went to G. Campbell Morgan and he said to Morgan he said if you will become our pastor he said I'm prepared right now to build you a million dollar church now in those days it would have been like a 35 million dollar facility he said I'm prepared right now to build you a million dollar church and Morgan turned him down and that was something the wealthy Wanamaker wasn't used to he wasn't used to people saying no no no thanks but Morgan told him this he said I'm God's man and if I did that I would become John Wanamaker's man I'd prefer to be God's man you know there are only a few people in the scripture that are ever called a man of God and of those at least four are never named in the New Testament the only person that's ever called a man of God is Timothy did you know that and Paul uses the term again that was in the first letter to Timothy in the second letter he uses the term again but he uses it more as a generic kind of you any of us can be men of God and I would add women of God and he says that the man of God in 2nd Timothy 3 17 he means the believer in Christ can be thoroughly equipped to do the work of God and it's apparent that when Paul writes that he is a woman of God and she is also a woman of God with that being expressed to be a real woman of God works really well he uses it very well he is very paraphrasal competing with ebriah Wet's millisecond except to have different Ziemi rape cases after each of ours has to be forced to God's backslash he's a woman of God the heretic 교수 the real question is for us how many of us how many of us and men I'm speaking to how many of us really want to be men of God if you're going to be a man of God you're going to have to be a man of God on purpose it's because you decide I'm going to be God's man I'm going to become a man of God I'm going to do what I need to do I'm going to be who I need to be I'm going to have the favor of God on me as I pursue him I'm going to be a man of God so this morning that's what I want to talk to you about and a word to the ladies the principles that I'm going to share with you today frankly work for anyone okay so ladies don't tune out don't say oh yeah he's just talking to the men and some of you ladies probably saying thank goodness he's talking to the men because they need it but the principles that I'm going to share with you this morning are not restricted to being a man of God they work they just work for all of us so don't miss what God may say or what he may remind you of through this passage just a couple of verses if you're physically able to do so why don't you stand with me and welcome to those of you who are joining us by live stream I just did the funeral on Friday for one of our sweet ladies passed away Tim Willis and I did that and their family was telling that because of her health she hasn't been able to be here in a while and the family told me the daughter told me she said brother Ray when you would ask the people to stand to read the scripture she would stand up in her family room with us as we read the scripture honoring the word of God by the way just a little humorous footnote Tim and I did this funeral Friday and Tim said brother Ray I heard that you've had COVID I said is that all you've heard and I said yes I have but I said that's not half of it and I told him the story of the the fall and he said oh my goodness brother Ray he said well listen to this he said I was riding my bicycle just a few weeks ago and I had a severe crash on my bicycle damaged my shoulder I couldn't even lift my arm up for days bruised my sternum up and everything I said Tim there's a moral there for us you and I need to stay off the street but at any rate that means nothing to the passage it just verse 13 be watchful stand firm in the faith act like men be strong let all that you do be done in love father may these words remind us of what it means to be your man or your woman teach us speak to us father may the words of my mouth be pleasing in your sight oh God my rock and my redeemer and Lord calls us because of your word to be different when we leave than we were when we came in we're listening speak we pray in Jesus name amen thank you you may be seated now Paul is closing this letter to the Corinthians this is the first of two and he's closing this and with and here what he's doing is just giving some final exhortations there's not a lot of contextual connections in other words it's kind of like a long PS at the end of a letter you know when you think about some things you should have said that you meant to say you left out of the body of the letter and there's just some things oh yeah in closing let me say let me say let me say and that's what Paul is doing right here and he gives five exhortations that are in the imperative and you know what that means it means their commands so he says oh yeah there let me give you these five commands to operate by before I wrap this thing up and these things are to shape our life and one of the things he says there is to act like men did you notice that in verse 13 to act like men it is masculine it's a masculine noun in the Greek in other words there's no gender identity issue here this is not non-binary this is not about a woman wanting to be a man this is a call to be men men of God men manly men do you ever think that you would live in an age where you have to remind and reaffirm people about what a man is so many in our age today are confused about what a man is and what a woman is we're seeing it in athletics we're seeing it in government we're seeing it in lower and higher education today sociology is confused psychology is confused biology is confused and tragically many of our churches and their theology is confused and compromised but friend listen to me this morning the creator is not confused God's not confused on what it means to be a man and what it means to be a man masculine for God I don't know if you noticed but on June 6th the American College of Pediatrics had a press conference in the United States and they were talking about the association with enormous amount of research and hundreds of doctors they called a press conference the head of the American College of Pediatrics and this is what she said she said it's time for organizations and they called names like the American Association of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization and the CDC and it's time for them to stop pushing drugs on our children to try to make them change their gender and so proud of them for standing out why because the evidence now is showing of damage it does severe damage it does in the lives of these kids who are being transitioned and they don't even understand what's happening to them they called for the stop of of these gender transforming surgeries and those things but the the world may be confused about what a man is but God isn't the creator is not confused and I love how that translation one translation puts this in the middle of the book instead of saying act like a man it says play the man play the man and in another place in scripture when Israel was facing the overwhelming armies of Syria and the Ammonites chapter 10 of first Samuel Joab said to the men of Israel he's standing before them Joab's a great military leader and he says play the man be the man that is that's what he's saying that's what Paul is saying and this is more needed than ever before as we face a battle against our arch enemies the devil and his demons Polycarp was one of the early Christendom's father martyrs and the 86 year old bishop of Smyrna was told if he'll just recant his faith all would be forgiven but at 86 he said I refuse he was burned at the stake and he when they asked him why won't you why would you be burned at the stake by the way Christian history tells us that when he was burned at the stake he uttered no nothing painful and a sweet aroma ascended up from the fire but when they asked him they said why won't you recant he said because I've heard the voice from heaven that said be strong Polycarp play the man so today I want to call our men to play the man and I want to call all of us to a fresh commitment to stand firm in the faith and I want to do that by showing you five principles that we see in this passage the first is this found in verse 13 if you are going to be a man of God on purpose you're going to have to be a conscious man verse 13 we're told in the imperative to to be watchful the present imperative by the way this doesn't mean take a glance and be aware it means present tense continue to be aware more than ever before all of God's people need to be aware aware like never before keeping our eyes on heaven but we need to be aware of what's going on around us in the world and men you and particularly must lead in this process it denotes a intentional kind of alertness it means not dropping your guard it is both a warning to watchfulness against temptation and sin but it is also to be watchful for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ now why would Paul have to tell them to be watchful it is because we can so easily be fooled and so easily deceived and it is because back then just like today there were those who had infiltrated the church and were teaching heresy and would confuse and lead astray the spiritually weak and spiritually immature and so he says men be watchful play the man be watchful be conscious be alert be aware always vigilant to what's going on because there are those who have infiltrated uh the the the message of the gospel with a a barrett view of the truth and they're they're leading many men to be watchful and they're leading many men to be watchful and they're leading many men to be watchful and they're leading many men to be watchful and they're leading many men to be watchful and during the late medieval period London had a strange set of laws on the books each entry gate to the city they had the city wall each entry gate had to had to keep a musician on duty Aaron a choir leader at each entrance to the gate seems a little strange but that was their responsibility and it was a dangerous job because you see the city gates were where the church was where the attackers came and it's where other threatening outsiders first appeared the city gates were kind of like the border patrol the musicians were like the border patrol and so that was their job as strange as it sounds musicians then took charge of many other essential services back then but these hired municipal musicians started showing up everywhere not just in London but everywhere in Europe around the year 1370. and they typically played instruments they played trumpets they played trombones they played fives and bagpipes as well as percussion instruments now to the modern mind to our mind musical skills and police responsibilities have little in common I think you'd agree with that but in an earlier age the two roles often overlapped see musicians not only help defend the city gate but might also be required to patrol the streets at night in Norwich England in 1440 attacks was actually instituted among the people in order to pay the salaries of these musician policemen and these musicians were required to take an oath of office in Germany a minstrel was expected to equip himself well as a swordsman not just an instrumentalist but the question maybe you're wondering is the same one I had why musicians well the most obvious answer is that musicians were ideal first responders because they instruments could sound the alarm in case there was a major disturbance certainly a loud horn or drum helps in that regard and their ability to use their instruments to signal the rest of the city or those around would would help provide security for the entire people so Aaron we're gonna sign you another responsibility I just want you to know you and Bradley we'll talk about that in staff meeting this week if y'all see Aaron with a with a trombone or something standing at one of the doors you'll know what his new task well in the same way men you are to stay alert and Awake you were to stay at your post to guard protect and to pray for the city gate for your family and for the post that God has planted you in Ezekiel 33 it says son of man speak to your people and say to them if I bring the sword upon the land and the people of the land take further notice is that instead of protecting her quickly lay aióto andTell them to be ready to surrender to their end with customary people who are liable by God you must believe in Christ. a man from among them and make him their watchman. And if he sees the sword coming upon the land, he is to blow the trumpet and warn the people. Men, it's our responsibility. Do you understand that you are called to be watchmen? You're not called to be observers. You're called to be watchmen over the work of God. You're called to be workmen over your families, your kids, your home, home, and even the culture. Are you watching? What does a watchman do? He warns, he protects, and he stands in the place to protect the wall. What is the wall? The wall is truth in our culture. But not only is the man of God to be a conscious man, the second thing he is to be if he's going to be a man of God is to be a committed man. Verse 13, again, be watchful. And then he adds, stand firm in the faith. And this exhortation, again, is imperative in the present tense. It's an ongoing process. This exhortation is about uncompromising faithfulness to the truth of God. These believers that Paul had been writing to, just go read the letter of 1 Corinthians, these believers were very unstable. They had been easily influenced by false teachers of their day, and they were terribly, listen, illiterate to the scriptures. And this made them easy prey. They were Satan's lies. And it made them readily willing to compromise the very bedrock foundational truths of God. And so Paul says, men, take the lead. Stand firm. Others will watch you and take their cue from you. Men, you must know the word of God so that you can distinguish the truth of God from the lies of the enemy. Now listen, I don't want to insult any of you, male or female, but is it possible you know more? About your sports team than you do about the word of God? Is it possible that you can say, this is what happened with my sports team last week, but not be able to say, this is what the Lord said to me in scripture. You must know the word of God so that you can distinguish the truth of God from the lies of the enemy. Standing firm carries with it the idea of taking up a battlefield position where you can see the enemy and what the enemy is doing and adequately responding to the enemy. And so Paul says, men, take the lead. Stand firm. Others will watch you and take their cue from you. And so Paul says, men, take the lead. Standing firm carries with it the Some years ago, Premier Nikita Khrushchev, he was speaking to the Supreme Soviet at the Kremlin. And he was severely critical of the atrocities committed by the late Premier Stalin. A lot of people don't know that Khrushchev was so harsh about Stalin. They think he just followed in suit, but he didn't. He was very critical of Stalin because Stalin had killed millions upon millions of Russians. And so he was very critical of Stalin because Stalin had killed millions upon And while Khrushchev was speaking and criticizing Stalin for his deeds and tactics and murderous antics, someone from the audience in the Kremlin passed a note forward. And the note Khrushchev took and he looked at it while he was up there speaking. And written on the note was, so what were you doing when Stalin committed all these atrocities? If they were so bad, what were you doing? When he read that, Khrushchev shouted back at the audience, who set up that note? Stand up. Not a person stirred. I'll give you one minute, Khrushchev said. Stand up. Nothing. Seconds ticked off. No one, no one moved. And after a minute or so, Khrushchev said back to those gathered, the Supreme Soviet, all right, I'll tell you what I was doing. I was doing exactly what the writer of this note was doing. Exactly nothing. I was afraid to be counted. You know, I think one of the reasons that our age has become so godless is because we have been plagued by a Christian nothingness. We've been so intimidated by the enemy. It's a kind of cultural Marxism. I heard Ben Carson recently say that the lack of standing up for truth because of the intimidation of the enemy is a kind of cultural Marxism. I heard Ben Carson recently say that the lack of standing up for truth because of the intimidation of the culture is a cultural kind of Marxism, where the culture has so intimidated with its heavy-handed condemnation of any who stands or speaks for truth that we just remain quiet. He was speaking that to Christians. Just a couple of weeks ago, we remembered the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy. And there are a few settings, I've not been there, but there are a few settings I think remind us more of the commitment of those who stood for right and for the right of the people. Right and righteousness. But you've seen the pictures that I've seen, haven't you? Those cemeteries in Normandy. Now, we've seen Arlington. I've been there. I've walked through the white crosses there. I have to tell you something. It's emotional for me because I know I'm standing here because they're lying there. But we celebrated that invasion in Normandy. And then what we forget, and unfortunately, there are two or more generations today that have no appreciation, for the 9,300 white crosses in the cemeteries in Normandy of men and women, soldiers that stood firm and were willing to give their lives. I want to tell you, we need a new kind of enlistment of commitment of men to the kingdom of God that will not be intimidated. Men who will stand up when necessary, who will speak up for truth, who will show up when needed. We need some Daniels and some Shadrachs and some Meshachs and some Abednegoes. We need some Pauls and Peters and Johns and Stevens. We need Elijahs and Elishas. We need Abrahams and Joshuas. We need men that have a fresh commitment to the truth of God. Our culture needs spiritual soldiers today. Those who are unafraid to stand firm in their faiths. Our families need it. Amen. Our churches need it. Amen. And the future revival needs it. Amen. So here's a simple question. Will you be a committed man? Will you be a committed woman? And next, Paul instructs us again, if we're going to be men of God, we must be complete men on purpose. That's number three. This is actually a call of maturity. When he says to us to act like men there, that is a statement about maturity. That's what he's really talking about. You may recall earlier in this book, in chapter 13, Paul said, when I was a child, I spoke like a child. When I was a child, I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. But when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. Immaturity was a consistent problem for these Christians. So Paul's exhortation here, in effect, is like saying, start acting, like a mature man. Start acting like an adult spiritually. Men, I want to say to you this morning, your family needs you to be their spiritual leader. Our church needs you to be a spiritually mature leader. And you will never be the spiritual leader for your family or for your church unless you lead yourself spiritually. Now, Paul's not talking about being perfect. He's talking about active spiritual growth. That is, there are some things that may have characterized your life when you were a young Christian or a new Christian, but that time has come and gone. It's time to be beyond those things. It is time to grow up in the faith. The writer of Hebrews put it this way, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you, again, the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he's a man. He's a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. You see, you'll not be able to distinguish good from evil unless you know the truth, and the truth is in the word of God. And that's why he says, look, it's high time to be beyond formula and milk. It's time to take the substance of the word of God and let it shape your life, your mind, your heart, your will, your behavior. That you can distinguish good from evil. There are three things about maturity we all need to be reminded of. Maturity takes time. Because it takes time, get started now. You say, well, look how far down the road I am. It doesn't matter how far down the road. The question is, how are you going to use the time between here and eternity? It takes time to mature, so get started now. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. Second, maturity takes discipline. Now, growth doesn't always feel good. And you know what we tend to do? We tend to stop the things that stretch us, don't we?

I think I've told you this before, but I ride a stationary bike early several mornings a week. And I'm going to confess something this morning. Full disclosure. Fire up the presses. Notify Facebook. Let YouTube know. Y'all ready? I confess that I absolutely hate it. I'd rather stay in bed. I don't ride it because I love it. I hate it. I despise it. I grumble all the way up to my study. That's where it is. It sits in my study. I grumble all the way up there. And even when I start riding, I think about stopping.

I watch the clock. I don't ride it because I love it. I ride it because I need it. And so for me, you know what it is? Now, you may say, well, I love my stationary bike. I say, that's all right. You have a right to be sick. But the fact is, I need it. And so it's a pure act of discipline on my part. Now, I have to tell you, I don't hate spiritual growth. But sometimes it can be like the stationary bike. I'm riding and I don't feel like I'm doing much good. I'm riding and I'm not getting anywhere. But it's discipline. And I must pursue it because I need it. And if I neglect it, the effects show up in my life. I had a privilege in the latter part of this week to meet with a young man who believes that God's called him to the mission field. I'm so excited. We have people all over the globe right now doing missions that God has called out in our church. It excites me so much. And he came to see me. He's finishing up college and he thinks God has called him to the mission field. This is the third college student in less than a year that says, I believe God. Look, God is moving in our colleges. Well, in some of them. And we were talking about that. And then he said, Pastor, he said, you know, sometimes he said, I love Bible study. I love getting into it. I love my Bible. But there are some days where I just seem to struggle with it. Can you give me some counsel? I said, I said, that's absolutely normal. I said, there are days when I struggle. And I said, but here's what I do. I said, I learned that the scripture is like medicine for me. There are some days I just can't wait. I had a wonderful time in scripture yesterday morning. God gave me some messages. I had a wonderful time there just spending time with the Lord in the word of God. And then there are some days I get up and I spend time in scripture and say, God, I'm not sure. There's anything there much for me. And I told him that. And first of all, I think it was relieved to hear a preacher say that. Yeah, sometimes preachers don't get up every morning and go, where is it? Where is my Bible?

But I said, I said, here's what I learned on time ago.

I'm in the scripture, not because I have that overwhelming desire, but out of sheer discipline in my walk with the Lord, because I know it is medicine. And I know my soul needs it. And I know if I don't take it, it will show up. Now I get up. You know, I never thought I'd be like this. I never thought at 64, I would talk about my aches and pains. When you're young, that's what you think. You look at people and say, look, all they ever talk about is what's hurting and what's, what medications they're on.

Here I are.

But I told him this. I said, you know, I take some, I'm a diabetic. So I take some, what else y'all want to know about me? I told him, I said, so I have to take certain medications every day. And I said, I have to tell you, I don't get up and go. I don't get up and go. I said, my body is craving my medicine. I said, my body doesn't even know when I take it in terms of mentally. I don't go, ooh, that tastes better today than it did yesterday. I don't do that. But why do I take it? Because I know if I don't take it, it will show up. You understand, sometimes you take in the word of God because it's spiritual medicine and you're growing. And it is growing you. And it is, guess what, keeping you healthy even when you don't know it. And so out of discipline. And that's how you mature. Well, I need to move on. It takes a plan. That's number three. It takes a plan. A lot of believers aren't growing because they have no plan and no direction.

How do you create a plan? Pretty simple. Ask yourself some questions. When will I seek God? A time is good. Set aside a time. Where will I seek God? Find a place. And how will I seek God? Prayer, notebook, scripture, maybe some good devotions to go along with you. 3 John verse 2 says, Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health as it is well with your soul. You know what he's just saying? He says, I hope your physical body is as healthy as your spiritual body.

How would you answer that one?

Well, and so you must be a complete man, a mature man, a growing man. And then four, let me move on quickly. Be a courageous man on purpose. He says in verse 13 again, be strong. Paul is once again distinct. He's distinguishing moral weakness and their spiritual instability. And he's exhorting them to be full of courage and full of strength. These two words, strong and courage, are interchangeable in the Greek. You could have translated it, be courageous, be strong, be courageous.

Famous World War II tank commander General George Patton said this, Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

Courageous living isn't found in our own strength. It is found in the power and the might of the Holy Spirit. Not by might. Might not by power, but by my strength, says the Spirit. The culture of the Corinthians desperately needed believers who would be strong in the face of spiritual and social opposition. And I want to tell you something. I think it's next to impossible apart from the power of the Holy Spirit enabling you. It was from Paul to them, and it is from Paul to us, a call to identify ourself as God's people. Often when we hear people talk, about signing something, they'll say, put your John Hancock on that. You ever use that or heard that phrase? You know why that statement is made, don't you? John Hancock was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence. And when he signed it, he signed it in big letters, larger than any other. That's why you always see John Hancock's signature when you see replicas of the Declaration of Independence, because he signed it larger than anybody else, any other of the signatures. And he did that, he said, he signed it in such large, in such large and legible script so that the king of England could read his name without using glasses.

He wanted the king to know, this is what I stand for. Dear friend, what is coming in this age that you are living in is going to force us to identify who we are, what we believe, and what we are committed to. And there are many already capitulating to the spirit of the age. They're trying to make peace between the pagan ideals, the pagans of this world, and the holy truth of God. But you can never do that. They'll never be compatible. How do I know? Because of what Paul wrote in the second letter to the Corinthians in chapter 6, when he said,

You're never going to make peace between the pagan ideals of this world and the bedrock truths of God's Word. So be God's man. Be a courageous man. Be a courageous man on purpose. And last, be a compassionate man on purpose.

Notice in verse 14, this last exhortation, Let all you do be done in love. The matter of expressing unconditional love, and the word love there is agape, and it means that unconditional kind of love that Jesus Christ loved us with. And this unconditional love does some things. Why do you need to do all things in this kind of love? Because it guards us from becoming bitter. It'll keep you from becoming bitter. It will protect you from becoming angry. You see, if you're not governed by the love of God, you'll get angry. That's why I always tell you, never get angry at a lost world for acting lost.

We love them, but we speak the truth. Don't give up the truth trying to love.

But unconditional love guards us. It keeps us from getting bitter. It keeps us from becoming angry. It prevents us from becoming vindictive. I'm going to get you.

You see, hate and love are incompatible. You can't be a hateful lover. And we're to love the world, but we're to speak the truth. We're to speak the truth. And that's important because there's a message that has become popular in our culture today that essentially argues that because God is love, because God is love, He overlooks wrongdoing and essentially allows people to live how they wish because of His loving grace. That's a popular notion about God today. But it's a lie. The Bible says love covers a multitude of sins. But listen, friend. Love doesn't excuse them. Love doesn't give a multitude of sins. Or love doesn't give a pass to sin or to its consequences. And Paul's final exhortation here is that love for God and love for others is to motivate and govern everything we do. Why do we take the gospel to the world? Why do we have mission teams out there? Why do we have personnel around the globe that are serving God on the mission fields? Why do we do vacation Bible schools and Wired and all of those things? Why? Because the love of God compels us to tell a lost world that there's still hope. There's still hope that God loves you no matter what you've done. God loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He stretched out His arms on the cross and He died for you. That's love personified. He loves us. And the man of God must live the truth in love but with conviction. Not capitulating to the world. The man of God must live compassionately, conformed to the Word of God. He lives for God. He leads his family for God. And he loves like God.

So I told you about my fall to start this message. What I didn't tell you is that there was a man who picked me up.

You see, he helped me get back on my feet.

And then he said to me, he said, I'm walking with you. I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to walk. Where are you going? I said, well, I got a meeting I got to get to. I said, I'm okay. I'm okay. He picked me up and he's got me by the arm. He's trying to get me stable. And once I have one of these falls, when I get back up, I'm usually stable again. All right? All right. But he says, I'm walking with you. He's got me by the arm. I'm sure others might have helped, but he was the first one. He jumped down there and he picked me up. And he's got my arm and he's walking with you. He said, no, I'm going with you. I said, no, thank you so much for helping. But I said, I'm going to be okay. And I'm trying to walk. And he says, nope. He said, I'm walking with you. He said, do you want to sit down for a moment? He said, can I get you some water? He said, I'm going to wait with you, however long it takes. And I said, no, I'm okay. I'm trying to get to a meeting. And he said, well, I'll walk you to the meeting.

He's walking with me, holding. And his group is back behind and they're turning to go down another street. And I said, your group's leaving? And I said, I'm good. You go on back. He said, I'll catch up with my group. He said, right now? He said, I just want to make sure you're okay. We began to talk. Found out he's a pastor from Nashville. A younger guy in his late 40s.

You know, I wish in that moment I'd have got his name. I'd just like to send him a note and say thank you.

Not so much. Because I needed, I really was okay after about a mile and a half. No, I really was okay by then. But he wanted to make sure. I didn't think to get his name. I told him, I said, my daughter is up in Brentwood. And we had a little chit chat. I didn't even think to ask him about his church. What church do you pastor? Where? Because when I'm up there, I'm going to come see you. I didn't think about all that. My mind was just get on to the next place. But here, so I don't remember his name. He told me his name, but I don't remember his name. And, you know, how to get in touch with him. I didn't ask any of that. But what I do remember most is that he was a compassionate man that came to my aid.

Friend, that's who Jesus is. He's the compassionate Savior who saw us fall. And rather than avoid us, he bent down from heaven to save us. To lift us up and to set our feet on solid ground. It was compassion of the greatest kind by the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And you know what? He's still doing it. And he'll pick you up today. We've all fallen. Man, woman, boy, girl, student, parent, senior citizen, husband, wife. No matter who you are, he'll come to your aid. And you know what he'll do? He'll say, I'll walk beside you. I'll carry you when you can't walk beside me. I'll bring stability in your life that's in turmoil. And men, that's what men of God do. But God will not force you to be that man. It must be your pursuit. That's why I said becoming a man of God on purpose. You have to decide. So I don't know where you are, man, woman, but I want to invite you today to walk out of this place with a new commitment to be a man of God. Or a woman of God. Now, Lord Jesus, we thank you that you did reach down out of heaven. You picked us up. You set our feet on solid ground. And Father, we thank you. There are those watching today on television, listening by radio, watching on live stream, and perhaps they need today to call upon you. There are those in this live audience, Father, that need to renew their commitment to be men of God, women of God. There are those who need you to know you. There are those who need to follow. The example of these who were baptized today, whatever the case may be, Father, I pray in these moments before we're dismissed that you would speak. And Father, we would listen and obey. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, I'm so glad that you have tuned in to the broadcast today. I hope you've been encouraged by God's Word. It sure has been a joy to share it with you. And even now, people at Ridgecrest are making decisions for Christ. Perhaps as you've watched this broadcast, you've recognized the need for your own decision for Christ. The prompting of the Spirit has caused you to recognize that you need Christ as your Savior. And the good news is you can receive Him right where you are. The Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Right where you are, you can call on Him. Say something like this from your heart to Him. Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me. I know I'm a sinner, and I know that you came into this world and died on the cross for my sins. And right now, I invite you to come into my life. Forgive me and be my Savior. I can assure you if you'll call on Him, based on what God has already told us in the Bible, that He'll hear that prayer and He'll answer that. And He wants to begin this new journey in your life with you, transforming you into His image. We'd love to help you with that decision as well. You'll see a QR code on your screen. And if you would scan that, or you'll see contact information, or if you'll contact us about your decision today, we'd love to help you take next steps. There are no strings attached. No fees involved. We'd just like to help you begin that journey with Christ. You may be watching this broadcast today and say, I need a church family to belong to. I already know Christ as my Savior, and I'd like to be a part of the Ridgecrest family. Also, if you will, scan that QR code. That'll take you to a location, and we'll be able to help you make those kinds of decisions, like becoming a member here, or if you've never been scripturally baptized, those kinds of things. So contact us through that QR code or through the contact information on the screen. Well, again, it's been a joy to have you with us today, and I hope you've been encouraged by God's Word. Whatever decision we can help you with, by all means, contact us. May the Lord bless you.