Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey, welcome to the Grace Ops podcast. Brian Phillips here with you today. Man, I'm out here in the middle of Chicago somewhere. I just thought I'd stop by this park and get. Just get a. Get a recording in. It's a gorgeous place out here today. Hopefully, I can edit all the wind. It's pretty windy out here. Chicago is the windy city. But anyway, I just want to talk to you guys today about biblical masculinity and the tenacity that we have to have as men to be in tune with Christ and Christ's mission. So Christ comes to deal with sin. He's the perfect lamb that was slain. He comes and he lays his life down, and he's fulfilling genesis three, where God was talking about, I'll send my seed in the earth, and his heel will bruise your head. So Christ massively weakens the enemy. We're not dealing with the same enemy that Adam and Eve dealt with. He has a bruised head. He has a headwind. He's getting weaker by the moment and desperate, more desperate by the moment. We should be more excited about being alive in this day and age, even though things don't seem to make sense and evil seems to be called. Right. It's okay. Don't let that get you all geeked out. Tune into God. Press into God's presence and find yourself. Get centered, right? Get centered and go to war. Jesus came so that we would follow him, and we would be men of war like he is.
[00:01:20] We've got to fight these battles. We have to win, guys. I mean, Jesus taught that sin, nothing from the outside can corrupt the flesh. It's what comes from inside the heart that corrupts us. It's what comes from inside of what we've already allowed in. Right? So, with the enemy, we have authority in Christ over the enemy. So anything outside of us that's tempting is because we've allowed it to have a place to live inside of us. We've given it space. We've allowed it to have darkness, and we've allowed it to grow. So I want to challenge you today.
[00:01:51] If Jesus came to destroy the works of darkness, why would you and I harbor darkness inside of our hearts? Why would we harbor. Why would we flirt with things? Why would we give the enemy an ounce, an inch, a millimeter? Why would we give him anything, right?
[00:02:09] Make excuses for a pathetic life or for your own sin? Jesus wants us to fight. He wants us to be tenacious. He wants us to have very dedicated focus and make him the priority of our lives. So, how are you doing today? Destroying the works of darkness inside of your own life. I mean, cleaning house, walking in God's power, walking in God's holiness, actually living a life that's upright, right? We love Titus. 212 Grace comes and trains us to renounce, to look at what we've allowed in and draw that battle line again and say, no, not today, not anymore. I'm fighting. I'm in the battle. I'm awake, I'm alert, and I'm going after God's will for my life and his kingdom, and I want to advance this kingdom, and I want to build, you know, I encourage you guys, build brotherhood, get some guys that you can be authentic with and destroy the darkness inside of your own heart and actually come alive. Spend more time in God's word, right? You probably don't do that enough. You're not going to skim the Bible and walk in power.
[00:03:20] You're not going to skip fasting and somehow stumble into a supernatural, powerful lifestyle. You're not going to ignore the way Jesus said to live and then all of a sudden accidentally be powerful. It's not how it works. We have to be like Jesus. We have to become like. I mean, so I'm not saying that our actions save us. I'm saying that our actions prove that we're saved. And when I take his salvation into my life and heart, I now have to live in a different way. I have to live in a more responsible way. And he wants me to live in a way that's powerful and mighty. Biblical masculinity has everything to do with being like Jesus has everything to do with being the masculine expression of the heart of God in the earth, advancing his kingdom in that way. The masculine is only one half of God. Then there's the feminine, and then you've got the enemy in this day and age who's confusing the sexes, confusing generations. And don't get too crazy geeked out thinking. I mean, right now, the enemy is winning. Like I said this earlier, it's like, just recently, New York City put, like, they flew the rainbow colors on their buildings over Easter season, and then they get this crazy earthquake. Well, I don't think that's a coincidence. You know, God's trying to get our attention.
[00:04:37] The rainbow flag actually has ancient roots in Ishtar. And, you know, you can read the return of the gods by Jonathan Cahn. I heard him speak last night. That guy's. He's awesome. And he's a, he's a messianic jewish rabbi, and I've never heard anybody sing the Ariana blessing. The way he sings it, the sound that comes out of that guy was just absolutely a blessing to hear. And he really is a humble, powerful man, a real prophetic voice in our day and age. And he speaks with language like mysteries. I love it. Like all of his books have to do with uncovering the mystery. He's intriguing. He draws you in. So if you've never heard of Jonathan Cahn, I love his audiobooks. The guy who reads his audiobooks has the coolest sound in place, so it draws me. And I like that guy. But he writes a book in the return of the gods and talks about Ishtar. He talks about the dark Trinity, and so that's what we're up against. That's what we're up against.
[00:05:36] But, you know, Jesus came to empower us. He came to equip us to walk, to tread on snakes, scorpions, like, we can tread over those things. Those things should not have any room in your heart. So I just want to challenge you today. Grow as a man. Get in the word. Get in the word. Quit making excuses. The Bible is not boring. Right? You don't. You. You do have time. Did you know? And maybe this isn't you. I get it. But the average person spends 9 hours a day on their cell phones.
[00:06:06] 9 hours a day. And there's. If you. You can even spend time on your phone with God, you can play worship music and listen to go after the word of God. You could open a bible app. You could. Man, there's so many free Bible study tools out there. Did you know that the study of the text in the day of Jesus, the study of the text. The study of the Bible. The text.
[00:06:26] I mean, their version of the Bible, which was the Torah and the prophets and the poems and all that, but, you know, so their version of the Old Testament was the study of the text that led one to obey was the highest form of worship in Jesus day.
[00:06:44] So when we study with the goal that I want to have, I want to obey the heart of God. I want to draw near to him. You know, I just want to share this with you as I close out. But James four seven talks about, submit yourself to God. That's what we're, you know, get close to God. Draw near to God. Submit your heart to the father.
[00:07:06] That's where. That's what. That's what gives us the power to renounce things like, lord, I'm sorry, I've blown it some areas and. And then some. Submitting my heart to you. My life to you, my. My heart to your will, your ways. Submit your heart to God.
[00:07:19] It says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. So think about this. Whenever the enemy, whenever you think something's tempting to you, it's really not tempting you. It's what's already. You've already allowed in. You've already let that energy in. So you've got to kick that energy out. You got to rent's due, and you're going to leave.
[00:07:37] You can't pay again. I'm not letting you make a payment. So it's like, resist the devil and he will flee from you. It's that simple. And it actually works. It actually works. The word of God actually works. If you are faced in a situation where you're tempted, take the moment, take a moment or two and stop what you're doing. Submit your heart to God, and then you get tenacious and you resist the devil, he will flee from you. Because guess what? In those moments when those feelings hit us and we're caught in the crosshairs, it feels like somebody's going to flee. It's either going to be you by bowing and giving in, or it's going to be the enemy.
[00:08:18] A resistance is going to happen. He's going to resist and you're going to fall. Or you're going to resist and he's going to fall. All right, that's all I got today, guys. Let's tear this thing up. We got to be men after God's heart. Tenacious, alive. Alert, awake. Building community so we can be the solution. In a phone.
