Real Men Still Cry!

Outline For Overhead…..

Real Men Still Cry!

2 Chronicles 14:11 (NKJV) And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, "LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!"

Asa, The Crying King

2 Chronicles 14:1-4
1 So Abijah rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. Then Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.
2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God,
3 for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images.
4 He commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment.

Asa CRIES out unto the Lord

2 Chronicles 14:11 And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, "LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!"

God heard Asa’s Cry….

2 Chronicles 14:12 So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

2 Chronicles 15:1-7 (NKJV)
1 Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.
2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
3 For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;
4 but when in their trouble they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them.
5 And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands.
6 So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.
7 But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!"

We Need Men Who Will Cry Out To God TODAY!

Real Men Still Cry!

Real Men Cry About Their Eternal Soul!

Real Men Cry About Their FAMILIES?

Real Men Cry About Their Environment!

Real Men Cry About Their Growing Relationship With God!

Conclusion

Men, When Was The Last Time You Cried?

Preaching Outline Follows…

Real Men Still Cry!

Introduction:

Read statement from Judith Orloff MD

Asa, The Crying King

Asa was the third king of Judah (and Benjamin)

Saul – David – Solomon – Rehoboam (Kingdom Divided into Judah and Israel) – Abijah - Asa

Asa followed after the Lord

Judah was the smallest province of the day!

1) Judah consisted of only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin

2) Judah only had about 500, 000 men of war

Judah was attacked by the Ethiopians who had almost 1,500,000 men of war including 300,000 chariots….

Asa CRIES out unto the Lord

God heard Asa’s Cry….

2 Chronicles 14:12 So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

God sent a message to Asa through the Prophet Azariah…

2 Chronicles 15:1-7 (NKJV)
1 Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded.
2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
3 For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;
4 but when in their trouble they turned to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them.
5 And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands.
6 So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.
7 But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!"

We Need Men Who Will Cry Out To God TODAY!

Real Men Still Cry!

Real Men Cry About Their Eternal Soul!

Real Men Cry About Their FAMILIES?

Their Spouse

Their Children! (health, education, soul)

Joseph who was sold into slavery to Egypt by his brothers wept and cried over 17 times in Genesis 45 – 50…

Real Men Cry About Their Environment!

Neighborhood; Schools; Country…

Real Men Cry About Their Growing Relationship With God!

Conclusion

Men, When Was The Last Time You Cried?

Judith Orloff MD is the author of the New York Times bestseller Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life

For over twenty years as physician, I’ve witnessed, time and again, the healing power of tears. Tears are your body’s release valve for stress, sadness, grief, anxiety, and frustration. Also, you can have tears of joy, say when a child is born or tears of relief when a difficulty has passed. In my own life, I am grateful when I can cry. It feels cleansing, a way to purge pent up emotions so they don’t lodge in my body as stress symptoms such as fatigue or pain. To stay healthy and release stress, I encourage my patients to cry. For both men and women, tears are a sign of courage, strength, and authenticity.

Bottom of Form

Like the ocean, tears are salt water. Protectively they lubricate your eyes, remove irritants, reduce stress hormones, and they contain antibodies that fight pathogenic microbes. Our bodies produce three kinds of tears: reflex, continuous, and emotional. Each kind has different healing roles. For instance, reflex tears allow your eyes to clear out noxious particles when they’re irritated by a grain of sand, dust, smoke or exhaust. The second kind, continuous tears, are produced regularly to keep our eyes lubricated--these contain a chemical called “lysozyme” which functions as an anti-bacterial and protects our eyes from infection. ContinuousTears also travel to the nose through the tear duct to keep the nose moist and bacteria free. Emotional Tears flow from the result of our mental, neurological, and spiritual state or condition.

Emotional tears have special health benefits. Biochemist and “tear expert” Dr. William Frey at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis discovered that reflex tears are 98% water, whereas emotional tears also contain stress hormones which get excreted from the body through crying. After studying the composition of tears, Dr. Frey found that emotional tears shed these hormones and other toxins which accumulate during stress. Additional studies also suggest that crying stimulates the production of endorphins, our body’s natural pain killer and “feel-good” hormones.”

Other mammals and also salt-water crocodiles produce reflex tears which are protective and lubricating. Interestingly though, humans are the only creatures known to shed emotional tears!

Crying makes us feel better, even when a problem persists. In addition to physical detoxification, emotional tears heal the heart. You don’t want to hold tears back. Patients sometimes say, “Please excuse me for crying. I was trying hard not to. It makes me feel weak.” Typically, after crying, our breathing, and heart rate decrease, and we enter into a calmer biological and emotional state.

My heart goes out to them when I hear this. I know where that sentiment comes from: parents who were uncomfortable around tears, a society that tells us we’re weak for crying--in particular that “powerful men don’t cry.” I reject these notions. The new enlightened paradigm of what constitutes a powerful man and woman is someone who has the strength and self awareness to cry. These are the people who impress me, not those who put up some macho front of fake-bravado.

Try to let go of outmoded, untrue, conceptions about crying. It is good to cry. It is healthy to cry. This helps to emotionally clear sadness and stress. Crying is also essential to resolve grief, when waves of tears periodically come over us after we experience a loss. Tears help us process the loss so we can keep living with open hearts. Otherwise, we are a set up for depression if we suppress these potent feelings. When a friend apologized for curling up in the fetal position on my floor, weeping, depressed over a failing romance, I told her, “Your tears blessed my floor. There is nothing to apologize for.”

I’ve been this enthusiastic about crying for years. In fact, during my psychiatric residency at UCLA when supervisors and I watched videos of me with patients, they’d point out that I’d smile when a patient cried. “That’s inappropriate,” they’d say. I disagreed then; still do. I wasn’t smiling because my patients were depressed or grieving. I was smiling because they were courageously healing depression or other difficult emotions with tears. I was happy for their breakthrough. In my life, too, I love to cry. I cry whenever I can. Wish I could more. Thank God our bodies have this capacity. I hope you too can appreciate the experience. Let your tears flow to purify stress and negativity.