God's man
What does it mean to be a man of God? Consider how the bible describes David's relationship with the Lord:
The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart
1 Samuel 13:14
I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.
Acts 13:22
To be a man of God, we should have the following traits:
- Filling: God's man is a self-feeder. Consistently studying and applying God's Word independent of the church or small group is essential. To do this, a man must be taught how to study the Bible. We suggest building your framework to support a weekly meeting with the pastor or small-group leader to teach Bible interpretation skills (1 Peter 2:1-3; Psalm 1:1-3).
- Training: God's man receives regular/weekly biblical instruction (1 Thessalonians 2:13). This can be achieved through a weekly small-group Bible study or large-group study with small-group discussion.
- Practicing: God's man learns how to apply God's Word to all areas of life. It is essential to allowing room for accountability within the men's ministry for the purpose of consistency and obedience to God's Word (James 1:22-25; Ezekiel 33:30-32).
- Uniting: God's man makes it a priority to connect with other men at least two times a month for the purpose of community, accountability, confession, and prayer (Galatians 6:1-3; James 5:16; Hebrews 10:23-24).
- Surviving: God's man learns to address major life temptations and/or crises according to his need and life-stage. Support and encouragement from the ministry leader and small group is essential (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
- Reaching: God's man gets involved in some form of men's ministry based on his gifts and talents. God has called each of us to pour out to others what He has poured into us (1 Peter 4:10-11; Ephesians 4:11-13).
- Impacting: God's man invests time and resources into the lives of other men. We suggest one-on-one connection through shared activities, spiritual mentoring, and modeling (2 Tim. 2:22; Proverbs 27:17; Mark 3:13-14).
- Sharing: God's man learns to actively share his faith in order to lead others into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15; Matthew 28:18-20).