Model Man: From Integrity to Legacy
5/5
()
About this ebook
Read more from Larry Stockstill
Four Cups: God's Timeless Promises for a Life of Fulfillment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Daniel Fast for Spiritual Breakthrough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Remnant: Restoring Integrity to American Ministry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Model Man
Related ebooks
The Man in the Mirror: Solving the 24 Problems Men Face Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Five-Day Leader: An Insanely Practical Guide for Relentless Growth, Ridiculous Routines, and Resilient Relationships. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrowing Kingdom Character: Practical, Intentional Tools for Developing Leaders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lead Like a Shepherd: The Secret to Leading Well Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Do I Do What I Don't Want to Do?: Replace Deadly Vices with Life-Giving Virtues Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing Lions: A Guide Through the Trials Young Men Face Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fathered by God Participant's Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Have What It Takes: What Every Father Needs to Know Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waking the Sleeping Giant: How Mainstream Americans Can Beat Liberals at Their Own Game Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Way of the Wild Heart Manual: A Personal Map for Your Masculine Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dad Tired and Loving It: Stumbling Your Way to Spiritual Leadership Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anchor Man: How a Father Can Anchor His Family in Christ for the Next 100 Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Desire: The Journey We Must Take to Find the Life God Offers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Daniel Dilemma: How to Stand Firm and Love Well in a Culture of Compromise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Play the Man: Becoming the Man God Created You to Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Barbarian Way: Unleash the Untamed Faith Within Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming a King Study Guide: The Path to Restoring the Heart of Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeadership Pain: The Classroom for Growth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Heart Ablaze: Igniting a Passion for God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Drawing Near: A Life of Intimacy with God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breakfast with Fred Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Power of Desperation: Breakthroughs in Our Brokenness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Opposite Life: Unlocking the Mysteries of God’s Upside-Down Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing: How Leaders Can Overcome Costly Mistakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild at Heart Study Guide, Updated Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBecoming a King: The Path to Restoring the Heart of a Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of John Eldredge's Fathered by God Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsS.H.A.P.E.: Finding and Fulfilling Your Unique Purpose for Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Knowing the Heart of God: A Year of Devotional Readings to Help You Abide in Him Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Christianity For You
Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Start Again Monday: Break the Cycle of Unhealthy Eating Habits with Lasting Spiritual Satisfaction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Law of Connection: Lesson 10 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories We Tell: Every Piece of Your Story Matters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Less Fret, More Faith: An 11-Week Action Plan to Overcome Anxiety Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild at Heart Expanded Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5NIV, Holy Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Enoch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Undistracted: Capture Your Purpose. Rediscover Your Joy. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Model Man
4 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was recommended to me by my pastor on 02/15/15. On 03/06/15, I've completed the book and wow! The first chapter alone has completely shaped my life forever. I have to say, Chapter 7 really chewed me up inside, but I loved every second of it. I promise to whomever my wife will be, I will never make the mistakes that costed me my last relationship. Everyday I strive to be a Model Man!
Book preview
Model Man - Larry Stockstill
AL
PREFACE
A NATION DESPERATE FOR MODELS
But in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example.
—2 THESSALONIANS 3:9 NASB, emphasis added
AMERICA IS IN trouble.
Serious trouble.
Deep trouble.
Like an eighteen-wheeler loaded to the hilt with nuclear explosives sliding down a slippery mountain pass, we’re out of control. Without some drastic intervention and corrective steering, the end result is going to be catastrophic. The explosives we’re loaded down with are our own sins, both individual and corporate. Immorality that would have shocked and embarrassed us years ago has become not just accepted, but embraced and celebrated. Our financial system recently came near to collapse and is currently teetering on the edge of implosion. Worst of all, our spiritual leadership seems to have lost its moorings. America has gained in affluence but has lost its influence.
I just turned sixty and have been in public ministry for over forty years. I’ve never seen it this bad—never. There’s a passion burning inside me. My spirit is heavy, and I’ve wept for our country. God has laid a burden upon my heart that if something doesn’t change soon, our nation will be lost.
IT WILL BE.
There is good news though. It’s not too late. Weak though it may be, America still has a pulse. She can be revived! God is in the restoration business. He’s restored nations in the past. He can do it again. But what has the potential to turn it around? A different president or Congress? A new Supreme Court appointment or political party? I wish it were so. I’ve given considerable time and energy trying to make a difference in those areas. Now, however, I’m quite convinced that the only hope for our nation lies in one of its most precious resources, its men. It’s time for the Christian men to put away their toys and secret sins and lead by example. They must rise above the pack and become model men.
Becoming a model man is what this book is all about. The theme is expressed in Second Thessalonians 3:7-9:
You yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. (2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 NASB, emphasis added)
Here Paul happens to be addressing the issue of laziness, yet there is a much deeper, broader application. Paul’s entire approach to living was to do it in such a manner that qualified him as a model for others. The word translated model
in this passage comes from the Greek term typos, from which we get our word type. It referred to a stamp or a seal that was pressed onto papyrus, forming an impression. To be a model is to make an impression. Impressions can be good or bad. Can you imagine if something in that stamp (like a notary seal or a seal at the post office) was misspelled? The result would be thousands of documents having wrong impressions. The characters on the stamp would have to be corrected in order to not continue making that mistake.
As men, we don’t realize the impressions we are making upon our children, the people we work with, perhaps thousands of people around us. If one letter in our character is out of place, we are making wrong impressions on those who look to us for direction, guidance, and example. What kind of impressions are you making?
Impressions matter.
Paul understood this and knew eyes were on him watching every move he made. Without a smartphone, a computer, or even a Twitter account, Paul was a walking model
who had so allowed God to readjust his character that he positively impressed
thousands of lives in the first century. He sought to be a model man, one whose way of life, integrity, purity, pace, purpose, and legacy could shake a godless Roman empire. Paul also wrote in First Corinthians 4:16, "Therefore I urge you, imitate me" (emphasis added). He said again in First Corinthians 11:1, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ" (NLT, emphasis added). Can you say that about yourself? Can you tell your kids and family members and coworkers to imitate you? Was Paul being arrogant? Not at all. He was a man with imperfections just like all of us. He understood more than anyone his need for God’s grace in his life, but he also knew who he was and who was inside him.
America is in desperate need of Paul-like
models and examples, men that leave godly impressions on those around them. You may be thinking, I’m just one guy. What can I do? Let me tell you, one man can make a huge difference. I’m reminded of my own father, Roy Stockstill, and the hundreds of thousands of people influenced by his impressions. My dad is ninety-five, was married to my mother for sixty-three years before her death, and has been in the ministry for sixty-five years. I can honestly say that he truly reflects Titus 2:7: "Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works" (emphasis added). Watching him love God and my mom, not only in word but also in action, left impressions so profound on me that it caused a trickle-down effect. My dad built a legacy that’s still growing today.
Following his example, I’ve been married to Melanie thirty-seven years, and we have six children. On Sundays, all of our children and their beautiful, godly spouses gather with Daddy and our grandchildren for a meal of lasagna, roast beef, soft tacos, red beans and rice, or something similar. They hang around until late in the evening at our home—napping, riding golf carts, fishing, and watching sports on television.
My greatest joy right now is to watch one of my sons pastor the same church my Dad started and pastored for twenty years and that I pastored for twenty-eight years. Dad was my coach, mentor, and cheerleader. Now I’m my son’s coach, mentor, and cheerleader. Between the three of us, that’s fifty combined years of leadership. The church is growing under his leadership, and I’m working on my two great desires for God: restoring integrity and winning the world for