Getting Men to Jesus

Mark 2:1-5

And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, �Son, your sins are forgiven you.�

The Paralytic man is healed by Jesus. This man couldn't get to Jesus without the help of his four friends. His friends knew his condition and knew who could help him. It wasn't easy to get to Jesus the house was full and there was a large crowd around the house. The men didn't give up, they took him to the top of the house and proceeded to cut a hole in the roof of the house, then lowered him in front of Jesus. They had to go the long way to get their friend to Jesus.

How do we get men to Jesus in this culture?

Ironmen ministry, we must equip men with the skills and knowledge to use

the Bible to discover God's truth and to present it in a way that relates to men.

There are many road blocks in getting men to Jesus. Some of the spiritual concepts we use an be confusing to an churched men. "Open your heart to Jesus" what mental picture do you get when you hear this. There is a hymn written in 1879 some of the words "Jesus lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly" I can just hear all the men say "I don't think so.. I'd rather golf Sunday morning"

Here are some concepts that men can relate to

1. God as a father, Everyman wants to be a great dad or have a great dad. God is the ultimate father

2. Jesus as the older brother, Most guys look up to there older brothers. We want to be like them. I want to be like Jesus.

3. Christian are as co-labors with Christ, Our society admires team players. Everyone wants to be on the team with the superstar. Team Jesus; Jesus sets the example and shows us how to live.

4. Called to be noble, sacrificial task, When Jesus said "take up your cross and follow Me" This is something men can relate to working, picking up a shovel, loading rock in wheel barrels. We can literally grasp this concept with our own two hands.

The disciples were men. Jesus called them to follow Him and become fishers of men. They were trained in fishing for fish. What Jesus was asking of them was not an easy task. Change their occupation, change their lifestyle. Become disciples of Jesus.

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, �Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

Mark 8:34

Denying yourselves seems like you are going to miss out on something. There are two main area in men's lives that we need to deny or remove.

Self-justification. Men are experts at finding excuses just ask our wives. I'll get right with the Lord tomorrow, I'm having a bad day, it will even out in the end. Confession and repentance have to be apart of our lives. We can't justify ourselves in front of God. We lose!

Self-reliance. We don't want to owe anything to anyone. We look weak if we need help all the time. If you give me something I'll find a way to pay you back. I can do it myself. A natural independence from God.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospels will save it.

-Mark 8:35

This verse also is backward to our natural thinking. Of course we will do whatever it takes to save our life. But from God prospective what are we getting. The wages we receive from sin equals death, a gift from God is eternal life. We earn our wages, gifts are free God is willing to trade our "death" for His eternal life". "clunkers for cash" - "clunkers for eternal life"