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Sermon - Rise Up

Scripture - Genesis, Nehemiah, & Ezekiel

Manhood has been under attack for many years. We are told by our society that men are optional and that we certainly should not act like “men”.

Our society is begging for men to step up and be what they were created to be. So where do we turn, where do we go to find out what it means to be a man. And I don't want to call men out today, I'm hoping to call us up! The message I have today...Men, it's time to rise up!

Let’s go back to the beginning, the first man (Adam), see what God created him to be.

Genesis 1 (NIV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

God Made Man

Genesis 2 (NLT)

4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil.

6 Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land.

7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

God Made Man: To Work

Genesis 2 (NLT)

15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.

God Made Man: To Protect

Genesis 2 (NLT)

8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made.

9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden, he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—

17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

God Made Man: With the ability to resist temptation.

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the manto see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.

20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.

22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

23 “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’”

24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame

God Made Man: To Love His Wife

Genesis 3 (NLT)

1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.

3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.

5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful, and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

Men of God are not passive, and they take responsibility.

Nehemiah 1 (NIV)

3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Men of God: Pray

Nehemiah 2 (NIV)

1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before,

2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid,

3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates

have been destroyed by fire?”

4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven,

11 I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days

12 I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.

13 By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire.

Men of God: Plan and prepare before they act.

Nehemiah 2 (NIV)

14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.

Men of God: Fight

1 Peter 5 (NIV)

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Ezekiel 37 (NIV)

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone.

8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

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