When Adam and Eve were hiding from God in the garden, He didn’t call out for both of them to show themselves, instead He simply said, “Adam, where are you?” Because God created man first, it was man who He held responsible for the provision and protection of the garden. Join Tony Evans in this look at God’s definition of masculinity and the crucial role of responsibility that follows.
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i want to invite
all men on a journey
a journey that has to do with why you
matter
i know we’re living in a day when the
importance
of men has been downgraded has been
reduced and in some places totally
removed
appropriate masculinity has gone
unappreciated
and undervalued but god is calling men
to rise to a whole new level
remember god asked adam a fundamental
question
adam where are you i like to say adam
where you at
because this whole future of
civilization
will be keyed in to fulfilling your god
design god created and god
given role so then it’s time to rise up
over the next number of months we’re
going to be challenging men to a new
level of
manhood personal family church and
cultural impact
and when god’s men rise up
things are going to change when we fail
to rise up
as the bible makes clear things will
disintegrate
so join me let’s go on a journey
together
and see what happens when kingdom men
rise
one of the dominant questions of today
can be recited simply by asking
adam where you at
the missing man has become the crisis of
the day
not the missing male the missing man
it is the question of the single woman
who can’t find a worthwhile man to marry
she want to know adam where you at
it’s the question of the single parent
who’s been abandoned
by the father of her children
and she wants to know adam where you at
it’s that child
who has to grow up with a physically or
emotionally
absent father
and he’s asking the question however he
phrases it
adam where you at we’re living in a day
when
men have become domesticated
or abusive
or sissified
and the question on the floor is adam
where you at
we’re living in a day of terrorism
where violence due to the absence of the
conscience
and the dumbing down
of decency
has raised again the question
adam where you at
but worst of all
worse than all of that
is that god is asking the question
adam where are you
now if god can’t find adam
then you shouldn’t be shocked we can’t
find him either
adam had abandoned his position
and so the desperate need of today
is to call males back to being men
as god defines a man
not as the culture defines it
and so i want to speak with you
about answering the question about the
position of a man
adam where are you
here is the first thing that you need to
understand about a man
and his position not his location alone
but his position and that is that it is
a
position of priority
i know some won’t like that but this is
not a popularity meeting
it is a position of priority because god
says
in first timothy chapter 2 verse 12.
god created adam first
and then he created eve word first
first has to do with order
first has to do with
progress in time
adam and eve were not created at the
same time
adam first then eve
god spends a whole chapter genesis 2
discussing adam before eve is ever
created for adam
why
because it would be the man who would be
responsible
the man was created first because
god would hold him responsible even
though it was adam and eve
in the garden hiding from god god didn’t
say
adam and eve where are y’all
he said adam where are you
because you are responsible
if you’re going to be god’s man
then you’re going to have to accept
responsibility
for everything he brings behind you
second third fourth fifth and sixth
cause you first
god says in malachi chapter 4 verses 4
through 6 he says there will be a
messenger who will come
who restore the fathers to the children
and the children to the fathers
so that i will not have to curse the
land
so if our culture is declining
while we can discuss all the peripheral
political sociological
racial we can discuss all of those
reasons
why the culture is declining but what
god says is
first on the front end
where’s the man
as you’ve heard me say if you’re a
messed up man and you have a family
you’re going to help make a messed up
family if you’re a messed up man
contributing to a messed up family and
your messed up family goes to church
then your messed up family is going to
make its contribution to a messed up
church
if you’re a messed up man contributing
to a messed up family resulting in a
messed up church
and your church is supposed to be the
light to the neighborhood then your
messed up church is going to make its
contribution to a messed up neighborhood
if you’re a messed up man contributing
to a messed up family resulting in a
messed up church
causing a messed up neighborhood and
your neighborhood’s part of a city
when your messed up neighborhood is
going to make its contribution to a
messed up city
if you’re a messed up man contributing
to a messed up family resulting in a
messed up church
causing a messed up neighborhood that
resides in the messed up city and your
city is part of the county
well now your mess-up city is going to
make its contribution to a messed up
county
if you’re a mess-up man contributing to
a messed up family resulting in a
mess-up church causing a messed up
neighborhood that resides in a mess-up
city that’s part of a messed up county
and your county is part of the state
well now your messed up county is going
to
make its contribution to a messed up
state if you’re a messed up man
contributing to a messed up family
resulting in a messed up church
causing a messed up neighborhood that
resides in a messed up city as part of a
messed up county contributing
to a messed up state and your state’s
part of the country
when your messed up state’s gonna make
its contribution to a messed up nation
if you’re a messed up man contributing
to a messed up family resulting in a
messed up church
causing a messed up neighborhood that
resides in a messed up city it’s part of
a messed up county it’s contributing to
a mess up state
that contributes to a messed up country
and your country’s part of the world
well now your messed up country is going
to make its contribution to a messed up
world
so if you want a better world compose
the better countries and have it by
better states
because they’re better made up of better
counties compose the better cities
inhabited by better neighborhoods
illuminated by better churches
that are made up of better families we
got to start by becoming better men
because it all rests on the position of
the man
[Applause]
because the man was first
he is to function as the foundation
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when you are building a house the first
thing you do
is pour a foundation
because anything else you bring into
that house is
banking on it holding if the foundation
collapses everything on it collapses
with it
if the foundation is shaky
then the things that are banking on it
to keep
the windows and the doors and the roof
in place
get out of whack because foundations
aren’t fancy
foundations aren’t pretty but they
better be solid
when he says i created adam first
he’s saying you are the foundation and
this whole ball of wax
is banking on you
the world says to man up but they’re
often talking about things you can see
money
status what does god say to be a man and
rise up in society
you can’t leave god on the sidelines to
do so is the difference between
good and great see greatness isn’t
achieved
it’s demonstrated every day a man leaves
his legacy through a million middle
moments
done well it requires showing up being
present
standing up speaking truth in his
powerful and long-awaited sequel to the
instant bestseller kingdom man
tony evans kingdom men rising challenges
men to rise up for what they believe in
he inspires men to leave a legacy of
both impact
and influence get the much anticipated
sequel
kingdom men rising and get going seize
what’s yours
claim what’s ours for the collective
body of christ
time is ticking kingdom men we must rise
find out more at tonyevins.org
it says in that verse verse 8
he was hiding from the presence of god
watch this in the garden
he was hiding from god in his house
see don’t miss that
not only was he hiding from god in his
house
because the garden was adam’s house
this place he lived
adam went to the house
to get the leaves to hide from god so he
used what god gave him to hide from god
he literally used god’s blessing to run
from god
today we have men who want all the
blessings of god and they use the
blessings to hide from god
he says he was hiding from the presence
of god
in the garden in chapter 2
verse 15 it says then the lord god took
the man
because there is no woman yet the lord
god took the man
and put him in the garden that’s his
house the garden of eden
to cultivate it and to keep it
he gives the man a job
he gives the man a house
place is in the garden that’s his house
and he gives him a job i want you to
notice something man
he gave him a house he gave him a place
to live
he gave him a job but but notice he told
him
to cultivate it
oh that’s a different word cultivated
see he didn’t just give him a job
he told him to be productive
see to cultivate something is to produce
something more than what you start with
so if you’re in farming you take seed
you farm the seeds because you now want
growth and plants and in other words you
want to be
productive in other words you want more
than what you start with
god expects a man
to maximize his potential underneath god
in whatever sphere of opportunity god
gives him
and whatever gifting he’s placed on him
all of this by the way was happening in
the garden
the garden was the place where god was
hanging out
in adam’s house as a single man because
he got married yet
he’s a single man hanging out with god
in the garden
he says not only do i want you to do
that but i want you to keep the garden
cultivate it and keep it
the hebrew word for keep means to god or
protect
i want you to protect your house
i want you to protect your garden
what is he protecting the house from i
mean this is a perfect world he’s living
in
no it’s not slick is in the garden
satan is in the garden chapter three the
serpent comes up to eve
so they’re gonna be problems in the
garden
because the snake is there and the snake
is gonna cause stuff
the snake is gonna try to stir stuff up
the snake is gonna try to
get you away from god there is a serpent
in the garden and your job is to keep
him out
because you are responsible for the
garden
to keep the devil out because he trying
to get in
and then he gives him another
instruction
verse 16 genesis 2
the lord god commanded the man saying
from any tree
of the garden you may eat freely
but from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat for in
the day that you eat from it
you will shone off die
he gives him his word
his commandment not his request his
commandment
why because a male who plans to be a man
must position himself under divine
authority
which means god’s word has the final
say-so in his life
not his posse not his friends not his
homeboys
nobody overrules god
not even his wife because god is gonna
say in chapter three
because you listen to your wife
all hell is broken loose in your life
because as much as you love her she’s
not supposed to overrule me
that his job is to oversee
the communication and the operation
of god’s word in his sphere of influence
starting with his family or as joshua
said
as for me in my house joshua 24 15
this is how we roll this is how we roll
he says the day you eat of it you’re
going to
break relationship with me that’s death
he says
that you are to carry my word
what was the difference between what was
the problem with this tree in the middle
called the tree it was a google tree
because it calls it a tree of knowledge
it was it was google it was the internet
tree
this tree was full of data all kind of
data
good data bad data tree of the knowledge
of good and evil
so the tree wasn’t all bad it had evil
but it also had good
but he said i don’t want to eat it even
though it’s got good stuff on it
why because
adam if you’re going to be the man that
i want you to be
created you to be and you’re going to be
operating like you’re supposed to be
then i want you to live by revelation
not reason
i do not want your human reason
to determine your actions i want divine
revelation what i say and when i’m ready
for you to know it i’ma tell it to you
don’t go out there apart from me and
learn it on your own
one of the problems today with so many
men is that they’ve gone so secular
or they’ve been to some college or
they’ve gotten stuck in some career
or they’ve been hanging out with the
wrong folk and they’ve gotten
all of this definition of manhood
messing them up
so that they’re not able to function
in the way god wants them to function
and we wind up as men being dead men
walking
we got the title and and you know we
like we we want people to recognize the
title i’m the head of this house
i’m the boss i’m the man we we want the
title without the responsibility
he says no he’s talking to adam guess
what adam’s job was to be
he was to make sure this information got
transferred to eve
he got he wanted to make sure this
information got transferred to eve
and he transferred it to eve in fact he
transferred it with a vengeance
what do i mean he transferred it with a
vengeance because when the devil asks
eve
can you eat from the tree she said not
only can i not eat from it
i can’t touch it so what adam told her
was
girlfriend baby girl
sweetheart honey
sugar dumpling don’t eat from that tree
and in case you didn’t get it
don’t even go near it where you can
brush up against it
he was to transfer
so if the wife has got to ask you are
you going to church today
if the wife has got to ask you are you
going to pray with the family
if the wife has got to ask you are you
going to have devotions
that means you’re not fulfilling the
spiritual
responsibility of spiritually leading
your home you say but i don’t know what
to do
i didn’t already done the work so all
you got to do is take what i did
and say family let’s discuss the sermon
that we had on sunday
you are the spiritual you say but my
wife knows more than me that got nothing
to do with it
that has absolutely nothing to do with
it it’s not who knows the most is who’s
responsible
that’s who it is so god is calling on
men and he’s asking the question
adam where are you
not just a location question but a
position question
many men as i said earlier have grown up
without a biblical worldview
and i know that we as men
even if you had it stray from it
and god is asking us today where are you
where are you as i define you
but that’s where the good news comes in
because in the bible there are two men
named adam not one
you got the first adam in genesis 2
and 3 and the bible says
in romans 5 he blew it for the whole
race
in chap verse 18 and following of romans
5
the first adam blew it for the whole
race
but in first corinthians chapter 15
verses 22 45 and 47
it says there’s another atom adam number
two
he’s called the last adam while
adam number one got us booted out of the
garden
the bible says the last adam is a
life-giving spirit
and he can escort you back into the
garden the first adam may have messed
you up
but the last adam can pick you up and
you don’t have to be like your daddy
you don’t have to be like your
granddaddy you don’t have to be like the
people
who influenced your life who are wrong
the last adam can rename you
there were two two guys in a mountain
climbing incident
and there was a man in the front and a
man in the back and there were two men
in the middle who were climbing
the mountain but in order to get him up
there safely there was a guy at the
front named adam
and a guy at the back named adam so they
are climbing up this mountain
but the problem is as the first adam the
atom up front
he slipped and all the all the folks
were tied together by a rope
the first adam slipped and when the
first adam slipped
he pulled the two men with him and they
were going to fall off of the precipice
but the last adam took his axe and
plowed it into the mountain
so that all the men that were behind him
could climb back up
the first adam slipped and he’s dragging
all the men down but the last adam on
the cross
has nailed that thing and he says if you
climb up on me
i will take you back to what you think
you lost
so the question is adam where are you
men it’s time to come home
[Music]
we live in a day when manhood has been
marginalized
undervalued underutilized
underappreciated
some of that is our fault as men some of
that is related to
cultural shifts and changes
one thing is clear when men do not
rise to the occasion of fulfilling their
divinely created role
families are in trouble churches are in
trouble and the culture disintegrates so
it’s time now
for men to take their rightful god-given
place
with the right spirit attitude and
action
to lead this culture country
into a place of healing out of a place
of harm and hurt
the culture is waiting on men to rise up
and be the kingdom men that god has
created them to be
so i’m excited about what lies ahead for
us as men
when we embrace our god-given calling
you remember god said adam where
are you because the future would depend
on the location of adam our future
depends
on the location of kingdom men
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my
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you