November 5, 2024 • 27 mins
In this episode of the Manhood Tribes Show, host Don Ross explores the connection between being a man and listening to God.
We dive into the idea of how spiritual growth, specifically through following Jesus, can be transformative when experienced within a 'tribe' of close male friends.
We discuss what sets a tribe apart from traditional church men's groups and how it can significantly impact various aspects of our lives, including career, relationships, finances, and most importantly, our spiritual journey.
We cover practical guidelines on listening to the voice of God, the importance of community, and a four-test method (Scripture, Community, Peace, and Fruit) to discern God's voice accurately.
Ross also invites listeners to participate in developing a resource to help build their own tribes.
00:00 Introduction: God and Manhood
00:44 Resource Highlight: How Manly Are You?
01:17 Welcome to the Manhood Tribe Show
01:33 The Importance of Male Friendships
02:22 Spiritual Life and Male Tribes
03:15 Following Jesus as a Tribe
03:33 Tribes vs. Church Men's Groups
04:58 Transformational Spiritual Growth
07:12 Listening to the Voice of God
09:11 Practical Steps for Hearing God
17:05 Tests to Discern God's Voice
26:05 Conclusion and Call to Action
💪 Want to know how you measure up as a man? Take our free quiz, called How Manly Are You? and learn how you can get better at being a man. Download for free at manhoodtribes.com/manly. 💪
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
How much does God have to dowith how you think of yourself
as a man?
For many men, being a man isreally kind of about our day to
day living and how we think ofGod sometimes has very little to
do with that.
Today on the main, who tribesshow, we need to talk about this
idea of what God has to do withwhat it means for us to be a
(00:23):
man.
Let's dive into that today.
Don Ross (00:45):
Guys want to know how you measure up as a man?
I've got a great resource foryou.
It's called how manly are you?
And it's a free quiz that youcan take to figure out how you
stack up against what it meansto be a man.
And when you take the quiz,you'll also get some free
resources to help you figure outhow you can get better as a man
in the areas where you wouldlike to grow.
(01:06):
So go to manhoodtribes.com/manlyto download your free.
How manly are you quiz today?
That's manhoodtribes.com/manly.
Men welcome to the manhood tribeshow.
My name is Don Ross.
I'm your host here at manhoodtribes.
And today is going to be apretty unique episode as we
(01:28):
continue this series about howto build close France.
Now, as men, I have been sayingall along that we need close
male friends in our lives.
We need a tribe.
We, in order to become the.
Extraordinary men that we aremeant to be.
We need to have a group of menaround us who are going to help
(01:50):
us grow, who are going tochallenge us, who are going to
help us transform into the kindof men that we really want to
be.
And that's going to affect us ina ton of ways in all aspects of
our lives.
In the way that we relate toother people in the way that we
think about and talk aboutourselves in the way that we
(02:10):
handle our finances in the waythat we think about our longterm
career goals, all of thesethings are going to be impacted
by a transformational group ofmen around us.
But one of the things that isalso going to be impacted that
we as men probably don't oftentalk about enough.
Is our spiritual life.
(02:31):
The way that we think about andrelate to God.
Now here on the manhood tribesshow, I've not made any secret
of the fact that I am aChristian.
I even have a whole episodeabout following the king where I
really advocate for the factthat I believe that Jesus of
Nazareth is our best ultimateallegiance as men, and that we
(02:51):
should follow him as not onlythe best man who ever was, but
also truly as God that he ismeant to be our north star and
to help us really understandeverything about our lives.
Not just how to be a man, butalso, especially that.
So I don't want to rehash all ofthose things that I've already
talked about, but if you missthat episode, go back and watch
(03:12):
that episode about following theking.
Today.
I want to kind of pick up fromthat and talk a little bit about
how a tribe might follow theking together.
And what does that really kindof look like as a group of men,
try to follow Jesus.
And how that's going to impactyou as you do that together as a
(03:32):
tribe.
Now I want to be clear that as Italk about this idea of tribe
and I've kind of mingled ittogether with some ideas about
Christianity, that it might beeasy for some of you guys who
are watching, who are maybe morefamiliar with the church or with
Christian men men's groups inparticular, that you might just
be thinking that a tribe is justsome other version of a church
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men's group that you've alreadybeen a part of.
Is this really just like.
You know yet another men's Biblestudy to go to.
And I want to say to youexplicitly that no, it is not
what a tribe does together isreally different than what
you're probably standard churchmen's group is going to normally
do together.
Now that's not to knock men'sgroups and a church.
(04:18):
Some of those can be reallygood, but judging by the fact
that most men's groups are notwell attended, most churches
have far fewer men in groupsthan they have women.
And in general, men just don'tseem to be interested in those
kinds of groups.
Uh, there's probably some roomfor growth and improvement when
it comes to what it looks likefor a church.
(04:39):
To do men's groups together andreally what it looks like for us
as men to do groups together andthe way that we pursue God.
And so that's, what I want totalk about today is what are we
talking about when we say that atribe is going to help you
transform spiritually?
That is going to help you followthe king.
I believe that by being part ofa tribe, you are going to have
(05:01):
the best spiritual life thatyou've ever had.
It is going to create new andfresh ways for you to be able to
encounter God, not only on yourown, but especially in the
context of community.
And because of that, you aregoing to grow by leaps and
bounds and what it means torelate to God.
(05:21):
But also in terms of how thataffects you as a man in every
aspect of your life.
It really will be a remarkableprocess.
And I bet you're going toexperience things spiritually
that you never have before, andmaybe never even knew that you
could, but that's not going tocome by just doing the same old,
same old thing that you might'vedone in a church men's group
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before, or might have neverdone, because that really kind
of never seemed like your thing.
So, what does that look like todo that kind of spiritual life
together as a tribe?
How does a group of men followthe king together?
Well, as I mentioned, it's notby doing the same old things.
So let me give some specifics.
It's not by just having a Biblestudy together with a group of
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men.
Okay.
A tribe is not a Bible study.
Now that doesn't mean that Ithink Bible study is bad.
In fact, I studied the Bibleregularly.
I think that's a really goodthing to do.
And it's a good thing to do inthe context of community.
That's just not what we do at atribe.
I tribe is also not a groupthat's devoted to service,
whether that's serving at yourchurch with your kid's ministry
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or parking cars, or, you know,whatever else you might do on a
Saturday or Sunday at yourchurch.
Like those are not the thingsthat you're going to be doing as
a part of a tribe.
You might do those things as aman, but that's not primarily
what your tribe is about.
It's also not about communityservice, like at a soup kitchen
or a food pantry or habitat forhumanity or some other kind of
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community.
Community service orientedorganization.
Again, those things are good.
Those are good things for men todo and to get involved with in
your community.
But that's not primarily howyou're going to grow spiritually
in the context of a tribe.
And a tribe.
Your spiritual growth is goingto mostly revolve around one
discipline in particular.
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And that's going to be thediscipline of listening to the
voice of God.
Learning to listen to Godspeaking to you directly.
Now for some of you, even as Isay that that might sound a
little weird, a little wooey alittle like off the map, maybe
even a little off limits.
And let me just reassure youthat listening to the voice of
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God has been a discipline thatChristians throughout church
history have practiced.
In many times.
And in many places, it hasreally only been in the last few
centuries in the west.
Where we have very much focusedon rational thought and have
been influenced by science andthe enlightenment era that we
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have gotten away from anythingthat feels kind of remotely
supernatural.
So anything that's kind ofsubjective or experience
oriented, we've had a muchharder time with in the west
because we've just beenskeptical of those kinds of
things.
And maybe rightly so.
There's definitely evidence ofexperiences that are just
far-fetched and, you know, Itseemed to be completely made up
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and are done in the name ofJesus.
I'm not advocating for thosekinds of things.
What I am saying is that it is along standing discipline and
tradition throughout churchhistory, where people have
listened to and heard the voiceof the Lord speaking to them and
use that as a way to help guidethem, to nourish them, to grow
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them and to direct them and whatit means to be someone who
follows Jesus as king.
And so we, as men want to learnto do the same.
And honestly, a tribe is thebest place to be able to do
that.
It's a really good place to dothat because you're doing it in
community.
And so you have some naturalaccountability built into what
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you're doing and how you'repracticing this discipline.
So you're much less likely to gooff the rails than you would be.
If you were maybe justpracticing this on your own.
So.
Before I get into kind of thosespecifics, let's just say, what
are we talking about?
What does it mean to listen tothe voice of God?
Like, what does that practiceactually look like?
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How do you do that?
What does hearing God soundlike?
How do you know what.
What those things are.
Let's talk about all of thosethings.
Okay.
I'm not going to go too terriblyin detail in this video, but I
want to give you a little bit ofa rough sketch of what it looks
like to listen to the voice ofGod as a tribe and how you
(09:41):
might.
Find with a little bit ofcertainty, if it really is the
voice of God that you're hearingfrom.
Now I want to say.
I'm advocating for this practiceof listening to the voice of
God, for anyone who is trying tofollow Jesus as king.
If you are not following Jesusas king, then I don't advocate
this practice.
(10:03):
And again, without going intotoo much detail, what I will say
is that there are otherspiritual forces at work in the
world besides just Jesus.
And because of that, they havethe ability to speak and to
influence as well.
And if you're going to get intouch with the spiritual world,
but not do it through the lensof following Jesus.
(10:24):
You're putting yourself at riskat following spiritual powers.
Who aren't interested in yourbest.
They are interested in theirbest and they might use you to
accomplish their best again.
If you're unfamiliar with thespiritual world, some of this
might sound really unusual andreally different.
That's okay.
(10:44):
We might have opportunityfurther on down the road here on
this podcast, to be able to talkabout that some more, but for
today, let me just say that I'mreally only advocating this
practice for those who arechoosing to follow Jesus as
their king and can trust thatthey're hearing his voice and
that his voice is really theonly one that is trustworthy.
Okay.
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So what does that look like?
I've talked about before, when Idid our episode on the chiseling
process, you remember, we talkedabout the idea that as a tribe,
Uh, gathers together.
One of the things they're goingto do is chisel each other, and
that acronym chisel stands forchoose, identify, share,
explore, and listen.
That last part of listening isreally all about listening to
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the voice of God.
So you want to spend a littletime at the end of your
chiseling sessions, being ableto just tune in to, what does
Jesus want to say to this manwho we have just chiseled.
And this is going to be.
Often the most rich time of yourtime together as a tribe.
But to do it, you want to followa few certain guidelines to kind
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of help you be able to tune intoGod's voice, to pay attention to
what he's saying and just tolearn how to be able to do this
well.
The first thing that you'regoing to want to do is just get
quiet.
Sometimes it is really hard tohear God's voice, but it is
always hard to hear God's voicewhen we've got lots of noise and
distraction going on around us.
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So if for any reason you've hadthe TV on, in the background or
music on or anything like that,while you've been meeting as a
tribe, which I don't recommend.
But if you have turn all of thatoff, turn off the distractions.
Put away your phones haveeverybody just put their phones
on silence.
Maybe even move the phones away.
So you're not tempted to in themiddle of some quiet prayer time
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to be distracted by it, to pickit up and to look at what's
going on with that ESPN gamethat I was following, or, you
know, what's happening with thestock market at the moment.
Like whatever things mightdistract you, whatever Dean goes
off on your phone that mighttempt you to pick it up.
You just want to remove that sothat you can be quiet and still
and pay attention to what God issaying and not be bothered or
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distracted by anything else.
You also just want to inviteJesus to speak.
Now Jesus is going to be willingto speak whether you invite him
to or not, but it helps yourheart to really tune into his
voice by just saying.
Jesus.
We would love to hear from you.
Whatever you have to say to thisman.
We want to hear from you so thatwe might speak your words to
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him.
It just helps your heart to beengaged with God's voice.
And to know that he's the onewho's speaking to you and you
can trust his words as youlisten for him.
Now.
As you're actually listening.
You just want to tune in with, Icall it the ears of your heart.
Everything is going to come inthe form of some kind of inner
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voice.
It may sound a little bit likethe voice in your head, if
you're used to talking toyourself, which most of us are,
it may initially sound a littlebit like that, but you're going
to over time, begin todistinguish God's voice from
your own inner voice.
And I'll talk a little bit moreabout that in just a minute.
But it might not come in theform of words at all.
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It might actually come in theform of images or some kind of
scene playing out in your mind.
God is able to speak and allkinds of different ways.
It might come in the form of amemory of your own.
And God is prompting you toshare that memory with the man
who you are chiseling thatnight.
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And maybe he has something inhis story that relates to your
memory that you didn't even knowabout.
But what's important.
There is that you are sayingwhat God is asking you to say,
So just follow where yourthoughts are going.
And then the third thing thatyou really want to do and pay
attention to is that you need tospeak out loud.
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What you think you're hearing.
Now.
This is really hard to do,especially if it's something
that you've never done before.
It takes a lot of courage.
It takes a lot of risk,honestly, because you're going
to say something into the worldthat you're not sure.
Did I just make that up?
Like, where's that coming from?
And initially it's going to bereally vulnerable for you.
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And I'll be honest.
You might make some mistakes.
You might share some things thatactually did just kind of come
from your head.
They didn't come from.
Uh, God's voice and that's okay.
That's okay.
To just say, as you're prayingand as you're sharing to just
say, I think what I'm hearingis, or I think I'm seeing an
image of this.
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Just say what you think you'reexperiencing as a way of being
able to kind of qualify.
I'm not sure if this is reallyfrom God or not, but I'm going
to take a chance at sharing whatI think I'm hearing or
experiencing.
Now.
All of that can be really risky.
And some of you might be hearingthis and thinking.
How on earth is this going topoint us to Jesus?
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When we have no idea, if what isbeing seen or heard or shared,
or any of that is actuallycoming from him, how can we
trust that that's from him andnot just a group of guys making
up a bunch of malarkey andsharing it with each other and
calling it spiritual wisdom.
That's a great question.
And we need to honor the factthat that is a real possibility
when you do this discipline, itis really possible that you get
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so subjective that you actuallydo miss the voice.
Of God.
I will say from personalexperience.
That's more rare.
Than it is regular thatsometimes that can happen.
But honestly, what I find isthat.
Jesus wants us to hear from him.
He is the shepherd and we arehis sheep who know his voice and
he wants to communicate with us.
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And so he, through his spirit isthere to help us.
He wants to help us hear what hehas to say, and we need to lean
on him and trust him, knowingthat occasionally we'll make
some mistakes, but that's okay.
The goal isn't to be perfect.
The goal is to grow closer tohim.
And so we need some ways to helpus be able to make sure that
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what we are hearing or what wethink we're hearing, what we
think that we're seeing arethings that are coming from him,
or at least are very likely topoint us towards him.
As we try to practice them orfollow what it is that we're
hearing or see.
So let me give you a fewguardrails that will help you in
determining is what you'rehearing, actually, the voice of
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God or not.
Okay for tests that will helpyou discern if what you're
hearing is from Jesus.
The first is the scripture test.
This is just really basic thatanything that you hear or see
needs to be consistent with whatGod has already spoken through
his scriptures.
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God is never going to contradictwhat is in the scriptures.
And so, because of that,anything that we think are here,
if it comes into conflict withwhat we know to be true in the
Bible, then we need to just tossit out and say, ah, that
probably is not at all what Godis saying.
We need to make sure that we arefollowing the truth of scripture
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first and the, any of thesekinds of more subjective words
that we might hear from God arelining up with that.
As long as it passes that test,then at the very least, even if
it's not directly a word fromGod, it probably is a word that
is consistent with what God hasalready said.
And in that regard, it can betrusted.
We can follow it and we canpractice it.
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Even if it isn't necessarily adirect answer to the thing that
we might be praying about inthat moment.
It's at least consistent withthings that God has already said
to us.
And that's really good now tothat point, though.
In order to know if what you'rehearing passes, the scripture
test.
You need to know the scriptures.
And this is a big hangup forsome guys who have long avoided
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reading or studying the Bible,because it just seems boring.
It seems like a waste of time.
It's something that only likenerdy Bible people.
Do, you know?
I don't really want to be one ofthose holy rollers.
Why is this worth my time?
Why am I going to do this?
You know, all the objections.
I know all of them, I've heardall of them I've even practiced
a bunch of them, myself.
But the point is now you have areason.
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Now you have a reason, thescriptures are your training
manual for being able to knowhow is God speaking to you and
is what you think you're hearingconsistent with what you have
already learned in thescriptures.
You've got to know thescriptures well enough to be
able to know if what you'rehearing is consistent with them
or not now.
It will take you some time,obviously to get to know the
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scriptures a little bit, but acouple of resources that I would
recommend to you.
If you're unfamiliar with Biblereading and learning and
understanding the Christianscriptures.
One is called the Bible project.
And one is called the YouVersionBible app.
You can look up both of thosethings online.
They're not hard to find both ofthem have websites and apps and
all kinds of other resourcesthat will help you with getting
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to know the Bible throughvideos, through Bible reading
plans, through all kinds of waysof engaging with the scriptures
so that you can learn them wellenough.
And in not too long of an amountof time in order to be able to
understand if what you'rehearing passes, the scripture
test.
Okay, enough of that one.
That's the first one, thescripture test.
The second test is the communitytest.
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And this is why I said earlierthat it's so important that we
learn to listen in the contextof community, because if I'm
listening to God's voice alongwith other men who I trust, hear
God's voice as well.
Then it's more likely that I canbe confident that even if I do
say something that's a littleoff target, there will be some
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other men there who might helpcall that into question and say,
ah, Let's make sure that that isactually from Jesus.
Or if a better example might be,if in my own individual time of
listening and praying with God,I feel like I hear him tell me
to do something, but I'm not sosure about that.
Or it seems a little extreme orseems different than what I have
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heard before.
I can bring that to my communitynow and say, Hey guys, here's
what I think I heard from theLord the other day.
And my time of prayer.
Will you guys pray with me overthe course of the next week or
so, and just ask God to give yousome confirmation about whether
or not that word really was fromhim.
That I didn't just make that up,or I'm not hearing it from some
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other spiritual voice, but that,that really did come from God.
The community test is afantastic way to involve others
who are listening for Jesus'svoice.
To help us know if the voicewe're hearing is Jesus.
We can do that as a group, or wecan bring what we're hearing
individually into the group as agreat way to help us know and
confirm that God is speaking tous.
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Okay.
So those are the first two teststo help us know and discern if
what we're hearing is actuallythe voice of God, the scripture
test and the community test.
The third test is what I callthe peace test.
The peace test.
Scripture tells us that when wesubmit our prayers to God, that
we will have the peace of God inour hearts, which transcends all
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understanding.
Meaning that it's a piece thatwe can't really explain, but
even in the midst of difficultyand trial and trouble that we
can feel at peace.
So whenever we hear the voice ofGod, we should feel kind of a
weighty peace that settles uponus along with those words.
And this is one of the ways thatI talked about.
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You'll learn over time.
What the voice of God soundslike as opposed to kind of your
own inner narrative, that theymight initially sound something
similar.
But over time you will start tonotice the weightiness of God's
voice.
And part of that weightiness isthat it comes with peace.
So sometimes even when, what youthink you're hearing might be
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really difficult that God mightbe asking you to do something
that feels really challenging orto say something that feels
really risky.
Or that what you're seeing orexperiencing that you're
supposed to share with yourgroup can feel really maybe
abnormal.
If there is a piece that comesalong with it that says, yeah,
but, but this is of God.
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I feel peace about this.
Then that might be aconfirmation that you really are
hearing God's voice.
Now to be sure.
Peace and ease are not the samething.
And sometimes we mistake thosein our current culture where we
think that peace comes by.
Living a life of ease.
If I don't ever have anytrouble, then I can have peace.
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And those are not necessarilythe same thing, especially not
in the story of God and in theBible.
We see that piece very often andmost prominently comes in the
midst of challenge and turmoil.
And so we should expect that inthe midst of those kinds of
things, that if we're beingasked to do something difficult
or challenging, or to saysomething difficult or
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challenging, that if weexperience a piece along with
it, that very often isconfirmation that God is leading
you into that thing.
Okay.
And the last test test numberfour is what I will call the
fruit test.
Jesus to helps us understandthat we can know a tree by its
fruits and what he means by thatis any message or messenger.
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Anyone who is trying to sharethe things of God.
Can be known by their fruits.
What would be the fruit offollowing out the course of
action that you feel like you'rehearing?
What would be the fruit ofsaying the thing that you think
you've heard?
What would be the fruit ofsharing the vision that you're
experiencing in your time ofprayer?
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Does it seem like something thatwould lead to conflict or
despair or anger and hatred orunkindness?
Um, that might be a reason tokind of check am I really
hearing this from the Lord?
The fruit that comes from God iswhat we call the fruit of the
spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness.
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Goodness, gentleness,faithfulness.
Self-control.
If the words that you're hearingor the images that you're
seeing, or the experiences thatyou're having in your time of
listening prayer.
Are going to produce those kindsof things.
When you share them, then that'sa pretty good indication that
what you're hearing orexperiencing is from the Lord.
Again, even if it isn't a directword from God, if it would
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likely produce one of thosethings or multiple of those
things, then it's at leastconsistent with God's word.
And it's probably fine for youto share it.
Okay.
When you take all four of thosethings together, scripture,
community peace and fruit.
That gives you a really goodgrid to be able to look at and
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to say, am I hearing somethingthat actually is from God or
not?
And even if I'm still unsure, ifit at least passes, most of
those tests, it's probably atleast worth me sharing and worth
me acting on in a way that mighthelp bring healing
transformation and all kinds ofbenefit to the men and our
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tribe.
But it is going to give you agreat set of guard rails to
operate within.
To make sure that this rathersubjective process of listening
to God still remains somethingthat guides you closer and
closer to Jesus and not off therails and to just following our
own whims and fancies.
Okay.
So I hope that this is superhelpful to you.
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I hope that this brings somelight into what it looks like to
follow God as a tribe and howlistening to the voice of your
king.
Is going to bring the utmostkind of transformation in your
life.
As you hear those words andexperience those things
together.
I promise you that in myexperience, as a tribe,
Listening to the voice of Godhas been the thing.
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That has proventransformational.
And incredible and our growthtogether as we follow Jesus.
I hope it's going to be the samefor you.
Now as you listen to this, you.
might be thinking, I reallywould love to do something like
that.
With a group of men, I could usea tribe like that in my life who
are helping me to grow closer toJesus in exactly that kind of
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way.
And if that's you, then I wantto encourage you by saying, I am
working on developing a resourcethat will help men build and
launch their own tribe.
But to do that, I would love toget some help from you guys who
might be interested in giving mesome feedback so that I can know
how to best develop thisresource.
So.
So.
if you're interested in bothbeing a part of a tribe and
(27:12):
giving me some feedback on how Icould do that well for you, I
would love for you to go tomanhood tribes.com/launch, and
put your name on the list thereto help me know that you would
like to participate in thebuilding of this resource.
So again, that's manhoodtribes.com/launch, and I'll be
in touch with you with what kindof feedback you can offer in the
(27:34):
future.
Thanks so much, guys.
I hope that this was reallyhelpful for you.
And I look forward to talking toyou again, next time on the
manhood tribe show.
I'll see you then.
How much does God have to dowith how you think of yourself
as a man?
For many men, being a man isreally kind of about our day to
day living and how we think ofGod sometimes has very little to
do with that.
Today on the main, who tribesshow, we need to talk about this
idea of what God has to do withwhat it means for us to be a
(00:23):
man.
Let's dive into that today.
Don Ross (00:45):
Guys want to know how you measure up as a man?
I've got a great resource foryou.
It's called how manly are you?
And it's a free quiz that youcan take to figure out how you
stack up against what it meansto be a man.
And when you take the quiz,you'll also get some free
resources to help you figure outhow you can get better as a man
in the areas where you wouldlike to grow.
(01:06):
So go to manhoodtribes.com/manlyto download your free.
How manly are you quiz today?
That's manhoodtribes.com/manly.
Men welcome to the manhood tribeshow.
My name is Don Ross.
I'm your host here at manhoodtribes.
And today is going to be apretty unique episode as we
(01:28):
continue this series about howto build close France.
Now, as men, I have been sayingall along that we need close
male friends in our lives.
We need a tribe.
We, in order to become the.
Extraordinary men that we aremeant to be.
We need to have a group of menaround us who are going to help
(01:50):
us grow, who are going tochallenge us, who are going to
help us transform into the kindof men that we really want to
be.
And that's going to affect us ina ton of ways in all aspects of
our lives.
In the way that we relate toother people in the way that we
think about and talk aboutourselves in the way that we
(02:10):
handle our finances in the waythat we think about our longterm
career goals, all of thesethings are going to be impacted
by a transformational group ofmen around us.
But one of the things that isalso going to be impacted that
we as men probably don't oftentalk about enough.
Is our spiritual life.
(02:31):
The way that we think about andrelate to God.
Now here on the manhood tribesshow, I've not made any secret
of the fact that I am aChristian.
I even have a whole episodeabout following the king where I
really advocate for the factthat I believe that Jesus of
Nazareth is our best ultimateallegiance as men, and that we
(02:51):
should follow him as not onlythe best man who ever was, but
also truly as God that he ismeant to be our north star and
to help us really understandeverything about our lives.
Not just how to be a man, butalso, especially that.
So I don't want to rehash all ofthose things that I've already
talked about, but if you missthat episode, go back and watch
(03:12):
that episode about following theking.
Today.
I want to kind of pick up fromthat and talk a little bit about
how a tribe might follow theking together.
And what does that really kindof look like as a group of men,
try to follow Jesus.
And how that's going to impactyou as you do that together as a
(03:32):
tribe.
Now I want to be clear that as Italk about this idea of tribe
and I've kind of mingled ittogether with some ideas about
Christianity, that it might beeasy for some of you guys who
are watching, who are maybe morefamiliar with the church or with
Christian men men's groups inparticular, that you might just
be thinking that a tribe is justsome other version of a church
(03:56):
men's group that you've alreadybeen a part of.
Is this really just like.
You know yet another men's Biblestudy to go to.
And I want to say to youexplicitly that no, it is not
what a tribe does together isreally different than what
you're probably standard churchmen's group is going to normally
do together.
Now that's not to knock men'sgroups and a church.
(04:18):
Some of those can be reallygood, but judging by the fact
that most men's groups are notwell attended, most churches
have far fewer men in groupsthan they have women.
And in general, men just don'tseem to be interested in those
kinds of groups.
Uh, there's probably some roomfor growth and improvement when
it comes to what it looks likefor a church.
(04:39):
To do men's groups together andreally what it looks like for us
as men to do groups together andthe way that we pursue God.
And so that's, what I want totalk about today is what are we
talking about when we say that atribe is going to help you
transform spiritually?
That is going to help you followthe king.
I believe that by being part ofa tribe, you are going to have
(05:01):
the best spiritual life thatyou've ever had.
It is going to create new andfresh ways for you to be able to
encounter God, not only on yourown, but especially in the
context of community.
And because of that, you aregoing to grow by leaps and
bounds and what it means torelate to God.
(05:21):
But also in terms of how thataffects you as a man in every
aspect of your life.
It really will be a remarkableprocess.
And I bet you're going toexperience things spiritually
that you never have before, andmaybe never even knew that you
could, but that's not going tocome by just doing the same old,
same old thing that you might'vedone in a church men's group
(05:43):
before, or might have neverdone, because that really kind
of never seemed like your thing.
So, what does that look like todo that kind of spiritual life
together as a tribe?
How does a group of men followthe king together?
Well, as I mentioned, it's notby doing the same old things.
So let me give some specifics.
It's not by just having a Biblestudy together with a group of
(06:06):
men.
Okay.
A tribe is not a Bible study.
Now that doesn't mean that Ithink Bible study is bad.
In fact, I studied the Bibleregularly.
I think that's a really goodthing to do.
And it's a good thing to do inthe context of community.
That's just not what we do at atribe.
I tribe is also not a groupthat's devoted to service,
whether that's serving at yourchurch with your kid's ministry
(06:28):
or parking cars, or, you know,whatever else you might do on a
Saturday or Sunday at yourchurch.
Like those are not the thingsthat you're going to be doing as
a part of a tribe.
You might do those things as aman, but that's not primarily
what your tribe is about.
It's also not about communityservice, like at a soup kitchen
or a food pantry or habitat forhumanity or some other kind of
(06:50):
community.
Community service orientedorganization.
Again, those things are good.
Those are good things for men todo and to get involved with in
your community.
But that's not primarily howyou're going to grow spiritually
in the context of a tribe.
And a tribe.
Your spiritual growth is goingto mostly revolve around one
discipline in particular.
(07:12):
And that's going to be thediscipline of listening to the
voice of God.
Learning to listen to Godspeaking to you directly.
Now for some of you, even as Isay that that might sound a
little weird, a little wooey alittle like off the map, maybe
even a little off limits.
And let me just reassure youthat listening to the voice of
(07:34):
God has been a discipline thatChristians throughout church
history have practiced.
In many times.
And in many places, it hasreally only been in the last few
centuries in the west.
Where we have very much focusedon rational thought and have
been influenced by science andthe enlightenment era that we
(07:55):
have gotten away from anythingthat feels kind of remotely
supernatural.
So anything that's kind ofsubjective or experience
oriented, we've had a muchharder time with in the west
because we've just beenskeptical of those kinds of
things.
And maybe rightly so.
There's definitely evidence ofexperiences that are just
far-fetched and, you know, Itseemed to be completely made up
(08:18):
and are done in the name ofJesus.
I'm not advocating for thosekinds of things.
What I am saying is that it is along standing discipline and
tradition throughout churchhistory, where people have
listened to and heard the voiceof the Lord speaking to them and
use that as a way to help guidethem, to nourish them, to grow
(08:38):
them and to direct them and whatit means to be someone who
follows Jesus as king.
And so we, as men want to learnto do the same.
And honestly, a tribe is thebest place to be able to do
that.
It's a really good place to dothat because you're doing it in
community.
And so you have some naturalaccountability built into what
(09:01):
you're doing and how you'repracticing this discipline.
So you're much less likely to gooff the rails than you would be.
If you were maybe justpracticing this on your own.
So.
Before I get into kind of thosespecifics, let's just say, what
are we talking about?
What does it mean to listen tothe voice of God?
Like, what does that practiceactually look like?
(09:21):
How do you do that?
What does hearing God soundlike?
How do you know what.
What those things are.
Let's talk about all of thosethings.
Okay.
I'm not going to go too terriblyin detail in this video, but I
want to give you a little bit ofa rough sketch of what it looks
like to listen to the voice ofGod as a tribe and how you
(09:41):
might.
Find with a little bit ofcertainty, if it really is the
voice of God that you're hearingfrom.
Now I want to say.
I'm advocating for this practiceof listening to the voice of
God, for anyone who is trying tofollow Jesus as king.
If you are not following Jesusas king, then I don't advocate
this practice.
(10:03):
And again, without going intotoo much detail, what I will say
is that there are otherspiritual forces at work in the
world besides just Jesus.
And because of that, they havethe ability to speak and to
influence as well.
And if you're going to get intouch with the spiritual world,
but not do it through the lensof following Jesus.
(10:24):
You're putting yourself at riskat following spiritual powers.
Who aren't interested in yourbest.
They are interested in theirbest and they might use you to
accomplish their best again.
If you're unfamiliar with thespiritual world, some of this
might sound really unusual andreally different.
That's okay.
(10:44):
We might have opportunityfurther on down the road here on
this podcast, to be able to talkabout that some more, but for
today, let me just say that I'mreally only advocating this
practice for those who arechoosing to follow Jesus as
their king and can trust thatthey're hearing his voice and
that his voice is really theonly one that is trustworthy.
Okay.
(11:04):
So what does that look like?
I've talked about before, when Idid our episode on the chiseling
process, you remember, we talkedabout the idea that as a tribe,
Uh, gathers together.
One of the things they're goingto do is chisel each other, and
that acronym chisel stands forchoose, identify, share,
explore, and listen.
That last part of listening isreally all about listening to
(11:27):
the voice of God.
So you want to spend a littletime at the end of your
chiseling sessions, being ableto just tune in to, what does
Jesus want to say to this manwho we have just chiseled.
And this is going to be.
Often the most rich time of yourtime together as a tribe.
But to do it, you want to followa few certain guidelines to kind
(11:50):
of help you be able to tune intoGod's voice, to pay attention to
what he's saying and just tolearn how to be able to do this
well.
The first thing that you'regoing to want to do is just get
quiet.
Sometimes it is really hard tohear God's voice, but it is
always hard to hear God's voicewhen we've got lots of noise and
distraction going on around us.
(12:10):
So if for any reason you've hadthe TV on, in the background or
music on or anything like that,while you've been meeting as a
tribe, which I don't recommend.
But if you have turn all of thatoff, turn off the distractions.
Put away your phones haveeverybody just put their phones
on silence.
Maybe even move the phones away.
So you're not tempted to in themiddle of some quiet prayer time
(12:33):
to be distracted by it, to pickit up and to look at what's
going on with that ESPN gamethat I was following, or, you
know, what's happening with thestock market at the moment.
Like whatever things mightdistract you, whatever Dean goes
off on your phone that mighttempt you to pick it up.
You just want to remove that sothat you can be quiet and still
and pay attention to what God issaying and not be bothered or
(12:54):
distracted by anything else.
You also just want to inviteJesus to speak.
Now Jesus is going to be willingto speak whether you invite him
to or not, but it helps yourheart to really tune into his
voice by just saying.
Jesus.
We would love to hear from you.
Whatever you have to say to thisman.
We want to hear from you so thatwe might speak your words to
(13:17):
him.
It just helps your heart to beengaged with God's voice.
And to know that he's the onewho's speaking to you and you
can trust his words as youlisten for him.
Now.
As you're actually listening.
You just want to tune in with, Icall it the ears of your heart.
Everything is going to come inthe form of some kind of inner
(13:37):
voice.
It may sound a little bit likethe voice in your head, if
you're used to talking toyourself, which most of us are,
it may initially sound a littlebit like that, but you're going
to over time, begin todistinguish God's voice from
your own inner voice.
And I'll talk a little bit moreabout that in just a minute.
But it might not come in theform of words at all.
(14:00):
It might actually come in theform of images or some kind of
scene playing out in your mind.
God is able to speak and allkinds of different ways.
It might come in the form of amemory of your own.
And God is prompting you toshare that memory with the man
who you are chiseling thatnight.
(14:21):
And maybe he has something inhis story that relates to your
memory that you didn't even knowabout.
But what's important.
There is that you are sayingwhat God is asking you to say,
So just follow where yourthoughts are going.
And then the third thing thatyou really want to do and pay
attention to is that you need tospeak out loud.
(14:41):
What you think you're hearing.
Now.
This is really hard to do,especially if it's something
that you've never done before.
It takes a lot of courage.
It takes a lot of risk,honestly, because you're going
to say something into the worldthat you're not sure.
Did I just make that up?
Like, where's that coming from?
And initially it's going to bereally vulnerable for you.
(15:04):
And I'll be honest.
You might make some mistakes.
You might share some things thatactually did just kind of come
from your head.
They didn't come from.
Uh, God's voice and that's okay.
That's okay.
To just say, as you're prayingand as you're sharing to just
say, I think what I'm hearingis, or I think I'm seeing an
image of this.
(15:26):
Just say what you think you'reexperiencing as a way of being
able to kind of qualify.
I'm not sure if this is reallyfrom God or not, but I'm going
to take a chance at sharing whatI think I'm hearing or
experiencing.
Now.
All of that can be really risky.
And some of you might be hearingthis and thinking.
How on earth is this going topoint us to Jesus?
(15:46):
When we have no idea, if what isbeing seen or heard or shared,
or any of that is actuallycoming from him, how can we
trust that that's from him andnot just a group of guys making
up a bunch of malarkey andsharing it with each other and
calling it spiritual wisdom.
That's a great question.
And we need to honor the factthat that is a real possibility
when you do this discipline, itis really possible that you get
(16:09):
so subjective that you actuallydo miss the voice.
Of God.
I will say from personalexperience.
That's more rare.
Than it is regular thatsometimes that can happen.
But honestly, what I find isthat.
Jesus wants us to hear from him.
He is the shepherd and we arehis sheep who know his voice and
he wants to communicate with us.
(16:30):
And so he, through his spirit isthere to help us.
He wants to help us hear what hehas to say, and we need to lean
on him and trust him, knowingthat occasionally we'll make
some mistakes, but that's okay.
The goal isn't to be perfect.
The goal is to grow closer tohim.
And so we need some ways to helpus be able to make sure that
(16:51):
what we are hearing or what wethink we're hearing, what we
think that we're seeing arethings that are coming from him,
or at least are very likely topoint us towards him.
As we try to practice them orfollow what it is that we're
hearing or see.
So let me give you a fewguardrails that will help you in
determining is what you'rehearing, actually, the voice of
(17:11):
God or not.
Okay for tests that will helpyou discern if what you're
hearing is from Jesus.
The first is the scripture test.
This is just really basic thatanything that you hear or see
needs to be consistent with whatGod has already spoken through
his scriptures.
(17:31):
God is never going to contradictwhat is in the scriptures.
And so, because of that,anything that we think are here,
if it comes into conflict withwhat we know to be true in the
Bible, then we need to just tossit out and say, ah, that
probably is not at all what Godis saying.
We need to make sure that we arefollowing the truth of scripture
(17:53):
first and the, any of thesekinds of more subjective words
that we might hear from God arelining up with that.
As long as it passes that test,then at the very least, even if
it's not directly a word fromGod, it probably is a word that
is consistent with what God hasalready said.
And in that regard, it can betrusted.
We can follow it and we canpractice it.
(18:14):
Even if it isn't necessarily adirect answer to the thing that
we might be praying about inthat moment.
It's at least consistent withthings that God has already said
to us.
And that's really good now tothat point, though.
In order to know if what you'rehearing passes, the scripture
test.
You need to know the scriptures.
And this is a big hangup forsome guys who have long avoided
(18:37):
reading or studying the Bible,because it just seems boring.
It seems like a waste of time.
It's something that only likenerdy Bible people.
Do, you know?
I don't really want to be one ofthose holy rollers.
Why is this worth my time?
Why am I going to do this?
You know, all the objections.
I know all of them, I've heardall of them I've even practiced
a bunch of them, myself.
But the point is now you have areason.
(18:58):
Now you have a reason, thescriptures are your training
manual for being able to knowhow is God speaking to you and
is what you think you're hearingconsistent with what you have
already learned in thescriptures.
You've got to know thescriptures well enough to be
able to know if what you'rehearing is consistent with them
or not now.
It will take you some time,obviously to get to know the
(19:20):
scriptures a little bit, but acouple of resources that I would
recommend to you.
If you're unfamiliar with Biblereading and learning and
understanding the Christianscriptures.
One is called the Bible project.
And one is called the YouVersionBible app.
You can look up both of thosethings online.
They're not hard to find both ofthem have websites and apps and
all kinds of other resourcesthat will help you with getting
(19:42):
to know the Bible throughvideos, through Bible reading
plans, through all kinds of waysof engaging with the scriptures
so that you can learn them wellenough.
And in not too long of an amountof time in order to be able to
understand if what you'rehearing passes, the scripture
test.
Okay, enough of that one.
That's the first one, thescripture test.
The second test is the communitytest.
(20:04):
And this is why I said earlierthat it's so important that we
learn to listen in the contextof community, because if I'm
listening to God's voice alongwith other men who I trust, hear
God's voice as well.
Then it's more likely that I canbe confident that even if I do
say something that's a littleoff target, there will be some
(20:25):
other men there who might helpcall that into question and say,
ah, Let's make sure that that isactually from Jesus.
Or if a better example might be,if in my own individual time of
listening and praying with God,I feel like I hear him tell me
to do something, but I'm not sosure about that.
Or it seems a little extreme orseems different than what I have
(20:48):
heard before.
I can bring that to my communitynow and say, Hey guys, here's
what I think I heard from theLord the other day.
And my time of prayer.
Will you guys pray with me overthe course of the next week or
so, and just ask God to give yousome confirmation about whether
or not that word really was fromhim.
That I didn't just make that up,or I'm not hearing it from some
(21:09):
other spiritual voice, but that,that really did come from God.
The community test is afantastic way to involve others
who are listening for Jesus'svoice.
To help us know if the voicewe're hearing is Jesus.
We can do that as a group, or wecan bring what we're hearing
individually into the group as agreat way to help us know and
confirm that God is speaking tous.
(21:32):
Okay.
So those are the first two teststo help us know and discern if
what we're hearing is actuallythe voice of God, the scripture
test and the community test.
The third test is what I callthe peace test.
The peace test.
Scripture tells us that when wesubmit our prayers to God, that
we will have the peace of God inour hearts, which transcends all
(21:52):
understanding.
Meaning that it's a piece thatwe can't really explain, but
even in the midst of difficultyand trial and trouble that we
can feel at peace.
So whenever we hear the voice ofGod, we should feel kind of a
weighty peace that settles uponus along with those words.
And this is one of the ways thatI talked about.
(22:14):
You'll learn over time.
What the voice of God soundslike as opposed to kind of your
own inner narrative, that theymight initially sound something
similar.
But over time you will start tonotice the weightiness of God's
voice.
And part of that weightiness isthat it comes with peace.
So sometimes even when, what youthink you're hearing might be
(22:34):
really difficult that God mightbe asking you to do something
that feels really challenging orto say something that feels
really risky.
Or that what you're seeing orexperiencing that you're
supposed to share with yourgroup can feel really maybe
abnormal.
If there is a piece that comesalong with it that says, yeah,
but, but this is of God.
(22:55):
I feel peace about this.
Then that might be aconfirmation that you really are
hearing God's voice.
Now to be sure.
Peace and ease are not the samething.
And sometimes we mistake thosein our current culture where we
think that peace comes by.
Living a life of ease.
If I don't ever have anytrouble, then I can have peace.
(23:16):
And those are not necessarilythe same thing, especially not
in the story of God and in theBible.
We see that piece very often andmost prominently comes in the
midst of challenge and turmoil.
And so we should expect that inthe midst of those kinds of
things, that if we're beingasked to do something difficult
or challenging, or to saysomething difficult or
(23:37):
challenging, that if weexperience a piece along with
it, that very often isconfirmation that God is leading
you into that thing.
Okay.
And the last test test numberfour is what I will call the
fruit test.
Jesus to helps us understandthat we can know a tree by its
fruits and what he means by thatis any message or messenger.
(23:59):
Anyone who is trying to sharethe things of God.
Can be known by their fruits.
What would be the fruit offollowing out the course of
action that you feel like you'rehearing?
What would be the fruit ofsaying the thing that you think
you've heard?
What would be the fruit ofsharing the vision that you're
experiencing in your time ofprayer?
(24:20):
Does it seem like something thatwould lead to conflict or
despair or anger and hatred orunkindness?
Um, that might be a reason tokind of check am I really
hearing this from the Lord?
The fruit that comes from God iswhat we call the fruit of the
spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness.
(24:42):
Goodness, gentleness,faithfulness.
Self-control.
If the words that you're hearingor the images that you're
seeing, or the experiences thatyou're having in your time of
listening prayer.
Are going to produce those kindsof things.
When you share them, then that'sa pretty good indication that
what you're hearing orexperiencing is from the Lord.
Again, even if it isn't a directword from God, if it would
(25:05):
likely produce one of thosethings or multiple of those
things, then it's at leastconsistent with God's word.
And it's probably fine for youto share it.
Okay.
When you take all four of thosethings together, scripture,
community peace and fruit.
That gives you a really goodgrid to be able to look at and
(25:25):
to say, am I hearing somethingthat actually is from God or
not?
And even if I'm still unsure, ifit at least passes, most of
those tests, it's probably atleast worth me sharing and worth
me acting on in a way that mighthelp bring healing
transformation and all kinds ofbenefit to the men and our
(25:45):
tribe.
But it is going to give you agreat set of guard rails to
operate within.
To make sure that this rathersubjective process of listening
to God still remains somethingthat guides you closer and
closer to Jesus and not off therails and to just following our
own whims and fancies.
Okay.
So I hope that this is superhelpful to you.
(26:08):
I hope that this brings somelight into what it looks like to
follow God as a tribe and howlistening to the voice of your
king.
Is going to bring the utmostkind of transformation in your
life.
As you hear those words andexperience those things
together.
I promise you that in myexperience, as a tribe,
Listening to the voice of Godhas been the thing.
(26:31):
That has proventransformational.
And incredible and our growthtogether as we follow Jesus.
I hope it's going to be the samefor you.
Now as you listen to this, you.
might be thinking, I reallywould love to do something like
that.
With a group of men, I could usea tribe like that in my life who
are helping me to grow closer toJesus in exactly that kind of
(26:52):
way.
And if that's you, then I wantto encourage you by saying, I am
working on developing a resourcethat will help men build and
launch their own tribe.
But to do that, I would love toget some help from you guys who
might be interested in giving mesome feedback so that I can know
how to best develop thisresource.
So.
So.
if you're interested in bothbeing a part of a tribe and
(27:12):
giving me some feedback on how Icould do that well for you, I
would love for you to go tomanhood tribes.com/launch, and
put your name on the list thereto help me know that you would
like to participate in thebuilding of this resource.
So again, that's manhoodtribes.com/launch, and I'll be
in touch with you with what kindof feedback you can offer in the
(27:34):
future.
Thanks so much, guys.
I hope that this was reallyhelpful for you.
And I look forward to talking toyou again, next time on the
manhood tribe show.
I'll see you then.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.