THE Man, THE Woman

I’m passing on a sermon series from a church, not my own, that I like to attend when I can. It meets Sunday evenings, and I go more in the summer when I have less obligations. Last summer they had this series called, “It’s Complicated: Sex, Dating, Friendship and Boundaries” that I really enjoyed. However, I missed a later four-week mini-series during "It's Complicated" on the topic of authentic manhood and womanhood. I first listened to it just this week, when I noticed it online after referencing the whole series in conversation. All four messages of the mini-series were powerful, but the ones defining godly young men and women impacted me the most.

Relating to my recent entries on God’s Word, the top characteristic named for both godly men and women was knowledge of, and active obedience to, The Bible. As the pastor discusses, our generation of Christians, as a whole, lacks the understanding of God’s Word to live as fully devoted followers of Christ. We only change that through reading our Word daily out of more than just obligation, studying it in depth, and getting sound doctrinal teaching from our church communities and other resources God has given -- and then living what we learn. I'm excited about the movement of churches that are working to target these deficiencies in our generation in particular, and what God can do through us when, as The Apostle Peter said, we crave the sincere “milk” – spiritual food – that is The Word – and grow as a result!

I also found the series insightful for the individual challenges that were given in separate sermons to men and women. Many characteristics of godly men and women were listed, but a few were focused on for each. The characteristics highlighted for men made me stop and pray for God to grow my brothers in Christ in these areas. The characteristics for women made me evaluate myself, and reminded me of my deep burden to disciple particularly younger women to recognize their true worth in Christ and avoid compromising for “happiness.” All of it comes back to having God’s Word as a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths.

I am thankful for the promises of God – given in His Word – that are The Power followers of Christ have even at our “lowest” points – and how it is the key to impacting our world. I really encourage you to take some minutes to listen to both challenging messages – they are worth it! Here’s the first part, and the second part, both of which you can stream or download. Or, if you have an iPhone, you can search podcasts for Frontline Messages > Frontline Teaching Team > Download Number 47 – Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, Part 3 and Number 46 – Biblical Womanhood, Part 4. All are free. Also, you can check out the whole, 11-week series by the same methods.

Happy, powerful listening!