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masculine_0Hey guys, Steven Kirkland here.
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masculine_0What is the measure of a Christian man?
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masculine_0That's what we're going to talk about today.
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masculine_0Today, in today's fast-paced world,
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masculine_0everything is based on performance.
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masculine_0You know how how well we're doing at work,
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masculine_0how well our family situation is,
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masculine_0how big your bank account is, Could be a lot of these things.
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masculine_0And as a Christian man, and sometimes it can be overwhelming.
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masculine_0When you're trying to balance the world's expectations for what a man should be and do,
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masculine_0and then balance that with the biblical
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masculine_0standards that we have,
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masculine_0it can be overwhelming at times.
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masculine_0We can stretch ourselves out pretty thin,
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masculine_0get worn out.
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masculine_0And I think there's you know,
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masculine_0it's OK and it's good
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masculine_0after all to pursue these things.
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masculine_0We've been called to provide for our families.
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masculine_0We've been called to glorify God in the different areas of our life.
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masculine_0So
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masculine_0our work situation, it's important.
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masculine_0Our family situation, it's important.
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masculine_0I'm not denying that. But I think there's a there is a problem when we start facing our
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masculine_0our worth or putting our confidence in these things.
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masculine_0One quick biblical example of this and that is in character of Job.
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masculine_0So in the Old Testament we have Job here was a man who by the world standards was very successful.
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masculine_0He had over 10,000 sheep,
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masculine_0camels, oxen and donkeys.
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masculine_0He had a huge family. He had ten children.
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masculine_0So he was a family man, SO11,
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masculine_0and he's very successful financially,
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masculine_0but he's also a family man. And he was also upright.
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masculine_0God says about him that there is none like him on earth,
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masculine_0a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.
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masculine_0I mean, these are God's own words about Job,
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masculine_0man. So he's a pretty amazing guy.
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masculine_0And what happens to him? In the Bible,
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masculine_0we see that in one day,
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masculine_0God allows Satan to strike Job and take everything from him.
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masculine_0His entire family is decimated,
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masculine_0is killed when the when the house falls down on top of the kids and all of his animals are completely destroyed.
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masculine_0So one day he loses everything.
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masculine_0And I, and I think there's a great lesson for us to learn from Job when we're
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masculine_0measuring our own life.
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masculine_0This is what he says from the depths of his suffering and misery.
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masculine_0Job speaks these words of God saying,
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masculine_0let him weigh me with accurate scales and let God know my integrity.
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masculine_0If I have put my confidence in gold and called find gold,
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masculine_0my trust, if I have gloated because my wealth was great and because my hand had secured much,
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masculine_0that too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment,
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masculine_0for I would have denied God above.
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masculine_0So Job here is saying that he hasn't put his confidence in his possessions,
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masculine_0wasn't in his family, wasn't in what he owned,
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masculine_0what he possessed. If he had,
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masculine_0he said, that would have been a denial of his trust in God Now,
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masculine_0his worth,
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masculine_0his integrity, his uprightness,
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masculine_0his wholeness, yes,
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masculine_0his confidence was found in God alone and dear brother,
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masculine_0we must do the same.
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masculine_0We will never reach perfection this side of eternity.
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masculine_0We must continue to depend on him daily.
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masculine_0So let's come back to the original question.
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masculine_0What is the measure of a man,
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masculine_0Brother?
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masculine_0Our value
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masculine_0is completely and utterly based upon what God has done for us.
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masculine_0What are we putting our confidence in?
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masculine_0Is it in what we have? Is it in our performance?
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masculine_0It can't be like Job. We must say
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masculine_0the Lord, my confidence is in you.
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masculine_0Because if we start putting our confidence in these things that we have,
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masculine_0how what we're doing, how our family is and we're sinning,
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masculine_0we're putting our trust in these other things.
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masculine_0So the measure of a man is based upon what he puts his confidence in.
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masculine_0The measure of a man, again, is based upon what he puts his confidence in.
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masculine_0And so for the worldly man, it's really going to
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masculine_0really matter what kind of house he lives in.
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masculine_0You know
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masculine_0how how big his bank account is,
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masculine_0all of these things, because he puts his confidence in these things.
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masculine_0But as Christians who say no, my value is completely based on what Christ has done for me.
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masculine_0So, brothers, let's keep fighting the good fight of faith,
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masculine_0but at the same time resting in the fact that Christ has already done everything on our behalf.
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masculine_0We have been judged,
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masculine_0we've been measured, and based on what Christ has done for us on the cross,
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masculine_0we have been found acceptable in God's eyes.
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masculine_0Thanks again for watching. This is Steven.
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masculine_0Go ahead and check out my website, stevenkirkner.com.
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masculine_0There's a link down in the description area below.
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masculine_0Go ahead and subscribe
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masculine_0if you haven't,
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masculine_0leave a comment if you'd like
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masculine_0and we'll see you guys next time. Bye.