Special Message From Kingdom Men Rising Movie, Part 2

God is not concerned with keeping our lameness intact. Dr. Tony Evans talks about what it'll take to re-empower godly men who've been crippled by our culture.

I don't just want to give you a tip so you can stay irresponsible. I want to give you that which will enable you to move on your own two feet. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. Author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. There's a lot of controversy these days about what the idea of gender really even means. But the Bible is more than clear on the subject, and today Dr. Evans will focus on God's design for manhood, as we share some powerful excerpts from his recent feature film, Kingdom Men Rising, created in partnership with Lifeway Films and Tony Evans Films.

Let's listen. See, we need Kingdom Men Rising because we've got Kingdom Men missing. The worst part about that is God can't find them either.

Ezekiel 22, 30 says, I looked for a man so that I would not have to curse the land, but I could find none. So if God is having trouble finding men, that's why we're having trouble. A problem with not a lack of males, so that means you can be a male and not a man. Because malehood has to do with your biological gender. Manhood has to do to your submission to divine authority. And until that submission to divine authority, you may be a well-dressed male, you may be a well-funded male, you may be a good-looking male, but you're a failed male. God is not concerned with keeping our lameness intact.

He's concerned with changing our lameness so we're not lame men anymore. So what Peter says is, I got something, but it's not what you have. I have something, but it's not what you ask for. What I have, I give to you in the name. Somebody say in the name. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk.

In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, stop being lame anymore. I want you to get up and stand up on your own two feet. I want you to stop depending on everybody else to man up where you should stand up. I want you to stop being irresponsible. I want you to stop being lame. I don't just want to give you a tip so you can stay lame. I don't want to give you leftovers so you can stay irresponsible.

No, I want to give you that which will enable you to move on your own two feet. Dr. Evans has just been great. NFL legend Tony Dungy. I first heard him when I was a young, young man in our church in Pittsburgh. He came up and spoke and I was just mesmerized and I just love him. But the thing that I've learned from him is that this life is a spiritual battle. And being a kingdom man, once you say, I'm living for the Lord, you better be ready for a fight. Because there's Satan on the other side who wants to take you down. You have to understand that you can do anything and the Lord can do anything. But keeping the faith and having the belief that you can do it, your belief goes before anything else. How does a man position himself to be one of those men?

Recording artist Kirk Franklin speaking with Dr. Evans. First of all, he has to decide that he wants to be that kind of man. Because in that decision, it means he's not going to accept the culture defining him any longer. The media won't define him. The music won't define him. The males that he hangs out with will no longer define him. In fact, God will define him and they have to adjust. Everybody else has to adjust. But that doesn't mean that you become some weak man. It means that you are a man who's bringing your faith into the culture, not walking away from the culture.

Then what happens wrong? How do I build a Tony Evans in myself and a Tony Evans in culture where, like, you still like football? You still like a good joke every now and then? I mean, a lot of times when you talk about pursuing Jesus, you know what I mean? Sometimes people get weird. That's because they've misdefined Jesus. You know, Jesus got in trouble for hanging out with the sinners, okay? You find Jesus' first miracle is in a social event because he goes to a wedding party.

And not only does he go to the wedding party, but he cooks up some good wine at the wedding party. In other words, we must be as Christians relevant to the culture, not irrelevant to the culture. And if we're going to be relevant to the culture, that means you're going to give the culture the swag that it needs in order to hear the message that you have. See, we got a generation of men out here where somebody needs a grab. The problem is the wrong folk been grabbing them. And they've been grabbing them, taking them in the wrong direction. Has it been spiritual men, godly men, kingdom men grabbing? It's been cultural men, societal men, crazy men that's grabbing them. Peter didn't just pray, it says he seized them. He grabbed them and we're not going to let you stay here.

We're not going to let you stay in this ridiculous state for 40 more years. You know, one of the things that's missing today is the blessing. In the Bible, you lived for the blessing. This is where the Father spoke life into his sons because the sons were responsible for carrying on the covenant.

He says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So the blessing is to go to at least the third generation. So he is to speak those blessings and that cannot be delegated to the wife. So if I was the enemy, I'm going to either get the man out of the home so that he doesn't get to speak the blessing or I'm going to keep him unblessed so he doesn't know how to speak the blessing. So either way, the boys don't feel the mantle of manhood and kingdom manhood, divine manhood pass on to them.

Tony Dungy. I think the biggest problem and the biggest area where our culture has gone astray in really telling our young people about manhood is our family structure and the divorce rate and boys especially growing up not in a dual parent home. And so it's hard. They want to do the right things, but they've never seen it.

And I think that is where Satan has really gotten in to us. If I can split this relationship and take that dad away, I can break this so these boys will really never know what they're supposed to do. They might want to do the right thing, but they won't know how.

NFL Operations Executive Vice President Troy Vincent. What happened to reaching back to take care of another and allowing these young men to just go off in the wilderness and accept mediocrity? Life's about focus, life's about structure, and life's about accountability. It's our responsibility to go back and mentor.

We're all responsible. God has been the father to the fatherless. We have to be fathers to the fatherless. To accept this challenge and opportunity to be a mentor to the fatherless and to father your own children, there is no higher privilege than that. And one of my greatest joys has been to father my two sons and my two daughters and through them to make a mark on the next generation. What's funny is me and my dad are completely opposite in the area of emotion.

Son Anthony Evans, recording artist. Because he can button up and I'm like, oh man, this happened. I'm that guy. And I remember feeling like in college because I realized I went so far away from home. It was like this epiphany that God doesn't have grandkids.

I'm not grafted in because of my dad because all I've known is this, where we're sitting right now. My dad said, Anthony, I want you to read Psalm 128. And he started reading that to me. Bless is a man who fears the Lord. His wife will be a fruitful vine.

His kids will be olive plants around his table. And he was saying that to me. But as he was talking, I started thinking about two daddy, grandpa, my other grandfather, the legacy that they started because they feared the Lord. And I looked at my mom and she was doing what the verse was saying and we were becoming olive plants around the table. And I was like, oh, this is true in my family because of the sacrifices that they made as it relates to faith.

And I have the option of doing that same thing. But I love the fact, and I don't ever take for granted the fact that I have the example of that. But for those of us who don't have the example of that, we can be the first because my grandfathers were the first. They started what we're all doing right now. Any time I'm on a stage, I think about my grandfathers and my father because that is what's given me my voice, my presence, my faith.

It's them. My father was big on grace, and we experienced that a lot growing up. Truth and grace, because he'll tell you the truth and you'll get in trouble for not following the truth. But he was also gracious in understanding that there's growth as it relates to becoming the true you that God wants you to be. And so I remember being on the phone with my dad, and I'm talking to my dad on the phone, and we're just having a conversation, but I'm bathing my kids. And one of them, Camden, who is, you know, he's got a lot of energy.

Let's put it that way. And he's running around, jumping around. I'm telling him to get in the tub, get in the tub, son, get in the tub.

And he won't, he's just playing and running around. And I said, son, get in the tub. You know, and I just, I'm losing it because he will not listen. And my dad said, Jonathan. And I said, what? I mean, yes, sir. You know, you know, I had to slow myself down. And he said, have I ever, have you ever heard me scream at you like that or yell at you or get loud at you like that?

And I said, no, you haven't. He said, patience, boy, you got to be patient. There is a tenacity that my father has. There is a consistency that he has and a stability that he has that has affected me.

All of those have affected me incredibly. To watch someone to live, who has lived, you know, a certain amount of years, we're not talking about a 20-year-old here, but somebody who's been walking the path for quite a while, and they've remained consistent in what they believe about God despite everything that they've seen, the ups and downs, the losses, the hurts, the betrayals, the difficulties, who has remained consistent in their walk with God and their commitment to his calling on their life. In my dad's case, that's ministry, but I've seen other people like that as well, that they're just consistent because they know their God and they know what God has asked them to do.

And so they're not going to be detoured to the left or the right. That's what has affected me incredibly because I feel a sense that I can do it when stuff gets tough with me. And so I'm looking at them and going, because you did it, because you said yes and you stuck to it and you have remained consistent and you've had tenacity, that means I can do it too.

Daughter Crystal Hurst, writer and speaker. My dad has done a great job of continuing the work to figure it out. I can definitely look back and see how he's grown as a father, as a grandfather, as a counselor, as a mentor, as a business person, as a ministry individual, but continuing to aim for it. When I hear about the story of his dad and what my dad learned from my grandfather, that's the story. It's understanding legacy and continuing to work to leave one, even when sometimes that means you leave a few things out.

You leave a few pieces and you keep going. We'll have more of today's special broadcast in just a moment. First though, as we've been learning, Dr. Evans says American men have been lied to and misled. It's time for the truth, and you'll find it in his brand-new book, Kingdom Men Rising. In it, Tony squares off against today's mangled view of manhood and presents a whole new game plan for overcoming temptation, recovering from past failures, leading your family, and building a legacy of faith and godly influence.

It's time to man up God's way. So we'd like to send you a copy of Kingdom Men Rising as our way of saying thanks when you make a contribution toward the ministry of the Urban Alternative. As a special bonus, we'll send it to you along with all 12 full-length messages in Tony's hard-hitting CD series also titled Kingdom Men Rising. Get them both before this special offer runs out by visiting tonyevans.org or let one of our friendly team members help with your request when you call our 24-hour resource center at 1-800-800-3222.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, as we return to this special collection of excerpts from Tony's feature film, Kingdom Men Rising, we'll be hearing from Jonathan Pitts, an author, public speaker, and the executive pastor at the Church of the City in Franklin, Tennessee. Let's join him. For me, just discipleship and discipling my children and just being there as a lead discipler in my home really looks like presence. So a lot of times, like, my quiet space was, like, popping my headphones in and just not being emotionally present, and I've got my girls like, Daddy, Daddy, and I'm just like, all right, give me a minute.

You know, I just kind of check out. There are things that aren't even considered wrong or sinful that are still distracting and taking me away from discipling my family. But it starts with presence, like, actually having an awareness around what's happening with your children and where they need you to be speaking into their lives and just picking up on the things that they struggle with emotionally, the things that they fear so you can be praying with and for them.

So it starts with presence. We hear that I'm the breadwinner. You're supposed to be the breadwinner. So we think that's the most important job we have as men.

Tony Dungy. I've got to work and take care of business so that I bring home the bacon and if I can feed my family, then I've been a good dad. And that is not the most important thing our kids need. I found that out from my son. I was actually getting an award, a fatherhood award. So I asked my son, Eric was like 12 at the time. I said, tell me the neatest thing that we've done together, the thing that you were most happy that we got to do. And he had been on the sideline with me, gone to the Super Bowls and all these different neat things. And he said, well, you remember the time we were playing baseball with a roll of tape and a broom because all this stuff was locked away and we just played baseball and I beat you 22 to 2 in tape baseball. That was just special, me and you together. You know, that made me think that it's not the great things.

It's not what I provided for. It's not being able to fly him to the Super Bowl. But it was playing a baseball game with a roll of tape because it was just him and I. Matthew 16, 26. What would it profit a man to gain the whole world if you forfeit your soul? And that's what I'd always tell our young players. It's great in accolades and professional football, but don't think that's life. Don't think that's the end-all because that will be gone at some point and our lives, physical lives on earth are going to be gone at some point. You have to make sure you're ready spiritually.

Jonathan Pitts. What's cool, I think, in Kingdom Living is that the two are held kind of in balance, that you can have sorrow and joy at the same time. And it's quite a paradox. I don't get it.

I really don't understand it. But I've had joy and sorrow at the same time. And I would say that my testimony at this moment is that God's taken a lot of sorrow and actually turned it into joy for me.

Anthony Evans. Coming a Kingdom man starts with surrender. And a lot of times, masculinity in our culture is the antithesis of that. It's not about that. It's about my world, my Kingdom, my thing. The biblical definition, it starts with surrender and being vulnerable and authentic and transparent enough to admit where you are and allow Jesus to meet you where you are and make you who He wants you to be.

Jonathan Evans. Being a Kingdom man doesn't mean you're a King. Being a Kingdom man really means that you're willing to submit yourself to the King that made you a man. And so when you understand that, when you understand submission, then you can follow the One who's the greatest leader of all time, teach you how to be a leader the right way, which is sacrifice and submission, and then all the people behind you, those that God has put under the sphere of your influence, can actually follow justly and rightly. And so you can actually make an impact instead of it just being about the individual Trinity, me, myself, and I. You can actually be serving the real one.

Coach John Kitna. You know, removing that excuse of, oh, well, I don't have a testimony or I don't have a sphere of influence. No, God's bigger than all those things. No Christian man has an excuse not to follow Jesus Christ.

To the false extent. Troy Vincent. God's given us all a purpose, and He's given us all a platform. So you may not be Jim. You may not be Troy.

You may not be Tom Brady. But God created you for a reason. Absolutely. With a purpose. And we can have influence right where we are.

We always talk about the power of one, the influence that one has. Doesn't matter where you work, whether you're on television, whatever it may be, but there's a purpose that God has destined for your life. We just have to recognize what that purpose is. The main thing is that you have to decide God matters more than anything and anyone else.

Because if He matters more, then pleasing Him becomes the greatest goal. And God has given us something to help us when we fall short. It's called repentance. And He encourages repentance. That's the internal determination to turn from sin. And sometimes that's a process to get to fully applying it. But men have this thing to be determined.

We get determined for what we want. We just don't want God bad enough. So because we don't want Him bad enough, and we want something or someone else bad enough, then He gets kicked to the side. That's why He says in the Word, you've left your first love.

I'm not first. I'm just one among many, and I don't accept that position. So because He doesn't accept that position, you don't experience the help that you're crying out to Him for. Another thing is to have other men in your life to remind you of that. And that's what's missing in our culture. So we've got other men to remind us of wrong.

We don't have enough other men to remind us of right. So Jesus can meet you no matter where you came from. He can meet you if you're down and out as well as if you're up and out. So don't tell me what your background was. Don't tell me that your daddy abandoned you. Don't tell me that your mama was no good.

Don't tell me that you were raised by a rolling stone. All that may be real, but Jesus was from Nazareth. He was from a no-name place. So He can meet any man in any place at any time, even when your life is half over, and He can turn that thing around, because Jesus is from the hood. Jesus is from Nazareth, and He can meet any man in any place at any time, even though you haven't walked for all of your lifetime. So let's stop, in the words of one of my books, no more excuses.

Let's not make an excuse, well, if it wasn't for Him, and it wasn't for them, and if it wasn't for the man, and if it wasn't for this circumstance, and if it wasn't, and if it wasn't, and if it wasn't, all that's real, but in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, we don't need to be walking anymore. That's why I don't have a lot of time for wine. I'll give you a few minutes to wine. I'll give you a few minutes to tell me about yesterday.

I'll give you a few minutes to tell me about how bad it used to be. But once I bring Jesus, the Christ of Nazareth, into the equation, I have now changed the story. And I can now tell you, get up, mister. Get up, man. It's time to walk. If you're ready to rise up and walk the way Dr. Evans just described, stay with us.

You'll come back in a moment with a powerful closing thought that can literally change your life. Now, if you'd like to see the full-length Kingdom Men Rising feature film that our radio broadcast has been drawn from today, you can do that. The Kingdom Men Rising movie is a film created in partnership with Lifeway Films and Tony Evans Films. And you can visit TonyEvans.org to find out how you can get a copy for yourself and discover where it's available for streaming.

We'll be back in just a moment. As a follower of Christ, you are created and called for greatness, now more than ever before. In his powerful sequel to the bestseller, Kingdom Man, Tony Evans' Kingdom Men Rising calls men to break free of apathetic faith, to take a stand, do more than just exist. You have been called to rise up and influence those around you. Discover how when you get Kingdom Men Rising and learn the art of intentional impact.

Available April 6th. Don't forget, this powerful book is available as a part of that special double offer I mentioned earlier the brand new Kingdom Men Rising book and the 12-lesson Kingdom Men Rising audio series on CD and digital download. Both yours is our gift for a limited time when you help keep this broadcast coming your way with a contribution toward Tony's ministry.

There's also a companion Bible study guide that's perfect for your personal devotion time or to help you present this important teaching to your small group or adult fellowship class. Again, all the details are waiting for you online at tonyevans.org or by calling 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center never closes, so don't wait.

Again, dial 1-800-800-3222. Well, are you ready to dig deeper? Join us next time as Dr. Evans kicks off an in-depth series of messages on how to answer God's call to understand and practice biblical manhood.

Right now, though, he's back with his final invitation. So where do we go from here? First of all, you must be willing to be a disciple. That starts with a personal commitment to Jesus Christ, accepting Him, trusting Him as your personal sin bearer and substitute, looking to Him alone for the forgiveness of your sins and the free gift of eternal life. When you do that, you have now begun down the road of discipleship, or perhaps you've already accepted Christ, but you've never been discipled. Well, now is the time to make that decision. And if you've already made that decision and are growing in your discipleship, then you should become a discipler of other men. So invest in the life of another man or a group of men in your church, in your community, and most certainly in your family so that we're replicating this emphasis on discipleship and seeing lives be transformed and men rising to become the men God has created them to be. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative, a celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.