God told Abraham that He would make Him great. God further defined great by saying that not only would He bless Abraham, but that He would make Abraham a blessing. Abraham wasn’t the only one that God told these words. He told David, Moses, and others the same thing.

I believe that God wants to bless men; He wants to make us great. But when men stop being men, we miss the destiny that God has planned for us.

God tried to get the nation of Israel to understand that He called them to be a "great" nation. It wasn’t primarily to give them wealth and resources in abundance, but to glorify the God of the universe. You see, He is the One who makes men great; who makes one man stand while another falls; who establishes and tries every man’s work.

Men want greatness. We don’t simply want to win, we want to dominate. There nothing wrong with that, but we cannot take God out of it.

Men, in general, want things in their lives to go well. When we get together, we talk about how great we are, what new toys we have and how we put certain projects together to work. When our team is winning, we are intense and full of life. But when our team is losing, we hang our heads in shame. But in every man’s heart, there is something that he seeks to identify him with greatness.

Men no longer feel that church helps to make them great. Ask a man what is the best way to achieve greatness, and rarely will any say church. More than likely we will identify with wealth or property. Many of the church fights that have resulted in church splits have been the results of who controls the wealth and who is the greatest. Clearly, in these situations, God controls none of it.

God promised His people greatness in order to glorify Him. James and John asked Jesus to allow them to sit on His right hand see Mark 10: 35-37. They wanted the most prestigious seats. That’s what men do; they identify with power and position. Jesus didn’t mind them being great, but He told them they had it all wrong. Jesus defined greatness a being the servant of all. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many Matthew 20: 25-28.

Seeking greatness is just a part of manhood. It is every man’s best kept secret. Our nation became a great nation because great men made it so. There has to be somebody willing to do the dangerous jobs. Somebody has to go deep down into mines and harvest valuable resources. There has to be someone willing to go into burning buildings, to go out there and arrest the bad guys, and to fight our wars. Go into any major city and look at all the skyscrapers; somebody has to build them. And traditionally, that someone has been men. Out of all the soldiers that have died in the fight against global terrorism, 97% or more are men. Because it is in men to defend and fight.

No civilization will survive if men just sit at home and say let somebody else do it. I think that it’s pathetic that men today want to sit at home while women go out and take care of them. That’s and insult and an affront to real men. Those men need to be taken out, flogged, and made to work. Not only that, but it is so confusing to me why a woman, full of serotonin, would allow a man like that to insult their intellect, mock their womanhood and openly pervert their precious femininity.

Do you know why real men will risk it all; why we won’t flee in the heat of the battle? It is because of our manhood; it is one of the things that make us great. It is something that God programmed into us, and every male understands it. But when we take God out of it, greatness becomes something perverted and destructive.

I cannot speak for anybody else, but I’ve got to be a man. I’ve got to overcome my fears, go against the flow and sacrifice myself for the greater good of others. That is what Jesus did to redeem us. That is what real greatness is all about.

It was dangerous for Jesus to go against the leaders of that day, but He did it. We have to do the same thing. Whether we’re male or female, we have to do it.

Manhood is more than being a male. Being a male is just a birth thing that we have no control over, but manhood is earned. Little by little, day by day, males become men on the proving grounds of life. It helps me to work hard and care for my family. It helps me to love and cherish my wife. It helps me to do all I can to succeed in ministry. It’s tough sometimes, but it’s my destiny. It’s tough, but it’s my manhood; it’s my greatness. I cannot trust anybody else to do it for me; I’ve got to do it myself. Only then can I rejoice, because when God gets the glory, I experience the joy of being a man.

Many men today think that it is manly to play on the emotions of women. They think it’s a statement to drop their pants down, put on tattoos, earrings and gold chains, and walk around like he is a prince. He’s never sacrificed himself for nobody. He has no destiny and he cannot be trusted with one single talent. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 2 Timothy 3: 1-3.

It grieves me to see how that men are no longer acting like men should act. This is one reason our society is so unstable. Since men aren’t acting like men, our women don’t know what to do. They are aggressive and unclear on how relationships work. Even our kids don’t know what to do, so they are imitating movies stars and music videos.

Men have a destiny, and if we follow our manhood, we will become a part of something really great. But far too many men have dropped out of life altogether.

Men deal with church as though it was a woman thing; like quilting or shopping for school supplies. 3% of men thing that Sunday school is for men while 51% feel that it’s for women. Millions of men attend church, but we don’t talk about church to each other. Men don’t mind admitting that they love Jesus, but we don’t say, "I like going to church". It almost like saying, "I like baby showers".

There are many reasons men give for not going to church. We don’t have time, it’s boring, it takes too long are just a few. A common excuse is that churches ask for too much money. I think that’s important because money helps us feel like men. I remember my reason for not coming to church was because there were too many hypocrites in the church I didn’t know that for a fact; it was just an excuse.

Men have fears of losing power and control. We cannot risk losing our chance at greatness. Church is a situation where women outshine men because they have better vocabulary and more bible knowledge. Therefore men pass on it. Men don’t like being singled out or embarrassed. I attended a church service where at one point the congregation was asked to stand up. They said things like "If God has done anything for you", or "You should obey"; just something to make you stand up whether or not you wanted to. Well this woman at the microphone was very adamant about making everybody stand, and all the ushers were going all over the audience trying to see who was still sitting because everyone had to be standing for God to move or for the prayer to progress or for the sister at the microphone to do whatever it was she was trying to do. Anyway, there was one young teenage girl visitor that simply refused to stand. Of course, I stood up because I don’t like to be singled out and I knew I wouldn’t be coming back anyway. So my wife and I left when they were preparing for the third offering.

I attended a church that boasted of being the same as it was years ago. They still kept the same traditions, and were therefore pure to the extent that the anointing had no choice but to swell their sanctuary with power and holiness. Their main point was that Jesus was the same yesterday, today and forever. I agree with that, but Jesus is not the problem, we are. And we’ve got to grow from glory to glory. Old time religion may be important to some people, but not to men. I am not against traditions as long as they are up to date.

Men know that there is lots of technology available to help the church function better, and they want it. I personally feel like the church should have all the technology; computers, videos, streaming audio and everything else to promote and glorify God. The world is using it to sell pornography and all kinds of smut to destroy us. There is nothing wrong with technology; it’s the people using the technology. If the church uses technology the wrong, it’s the church, not the technology. We don’t need a computer on every pew, but we can use it to speak the language that men understand.

Men like quality and excellence. If they listen to a choir, then the choir needs to be good. If a person is singing in the choir and they cannot sing, they need to be guided into an area where they are more gifted. If their desire to sing is great enough, then perhaps they can takes lessons and work hard, and through the grace of God, they can reach a point to where they can excel. But until then, they need to wait. I produce music, but I’m not a vocalist. The best I can do is demonstrate to you how I want it to sound. But if I release a recording, I won’t be the vocalist unless something changes.

I was a member of a church for many years, and I would invite my co-workers to come to our service. But eventually, it got so embarrassing that I stopped. Any church that draws men are those that pursue excellence. When people are excited about something, they tell others and others witness and experience it too. That’s how the gospel spreads.

I used to think that the longer a sermon was, the more spiritual it was. Men can focus, but not that long. I read the results of a survey that said 12% of church members actually remember the message, 35% say it was too long. 87% said their minds wondered, and only 5% said that the sermon was their primary source of knowledge about God.

Black churches have a reputation for long services. I went to revival that lasted from 7:30 pm – 12:30 am. The worship/testimony service was 3 hours. The actual sermon was less than 30 minutes. The rest of the time was spent praying for the Christian people. I think the sinners left before the sermon.

I believe that if we consider what it means to be a man, then it will help us to understand how to best appeal to them. We need men in the church and active, but we may need to do some things differently. It will be worth it to invest our thought and resources into this vital area of need. If we help to make our men great, then our greatness will follow.

By: Edmund Brown