Introduction
You live in a culture that has marginalized manhood, leaving you confused about your role, responsibilities, and purpose. Society either strips you of authority or pushes you toward aggressive self-centeredness, while your family and community suffer from the resulting vacuum of leadership.
Tony Evans argues in Kingdom Man that true manhood is recovered only when you submit to the rule of God. A kingdom man is an individual who operates under divine authority, taking absolute responsibility for his life, his family, and his community.
The book guides you through a progressive transformation, starting with the internal foundations of personal character and spiritual authority. You will then learn how to apply this power to lead your home through servant leadership, cherishing your wife and leaving a lasting legacy.
- What does it mean to function under God's comprehensive rule?
- How do you reclaim your lost spiritual authority?
- In what ways can you lead your family toward genuine generational blessing?
1. Foundations of Manhood
A kingdom man views God's standard as a priceless treasure and takes absolute responsibility for his realm.
Men often lower God's standard of manhood to make things comfortable. This shortcut results in cultural and familial decay. Pursuing the kingdom requires absolute commitment and personal cost. You must prioritize God's original design over personal convenience instead of lowering the bar.
Tony Evans's son Jonathan lowered the basketball hoop when he was young to easily dunk. Evans told the athletic director to raise the basket back up to its proper standard.
Realigning with God
Culture offers many false definitions of manhood. You must reject these distortions to repair the wear and tear in your family and society. Abandon these counterfeit roles:
- Corporate Man
- Passive Man
- Domineering Man
- Sexual Man
- Irresponsible Man
- Hedonistic Man
Tony Evans discovered his car tires were wearing unevenly because of a vehicle alignment issue. Replacing the tires alone without fixing the alignment would solve nothing. Just as a misaligned car chews through rubber, a man misaligned with God's principles continually produces broken relational results. You experience a man problem when your life is out of alignment with the kingdom of heaven.
Fine-tune your head and heart daily by centering them on the truth of God's Word.
Taking Responsibility
Society suffers when men abandon their posts. In America, 72 percent of black children and 40 percent of all children in America are born into fatherless homes. True kingdom leaders stop making excuses and own their sphere of influence.
Adam failed by standing in silence while Eve spoke with the serpent. He relinquished his leadership and shifted blame. Athletes use the loser's limp to camouflage a missed catch and make it look like an injury rather than admitting their own mistake. You must drop passive excuses and carry the burden.
- Stop living as a responder and take responsibility for your realm.
- Raise three fingers to symbolize 'I've got it' when problems arise, taking ownership to carry the burden.
2. Defining Greatness and Action
God desires you to be great. True greatness means maximizing your potential for His glory and the good of others through meekness and submission to divine authority.
True greatness is achieved through meekness, service, and active execution rather than worldly power plays.
Meekness is not weakness. It is the submission of your power and ambition to a higher control. You must avoid pride and false ambition, ensuring your desire for greatness serves God's kingdom rather than seeking to steal God's glory.
Darwin E. Smith quietly and humbly turned Kimberly-Clark into the world's top paper-based consumer products company by focusing entirely on the company rather than seeking personal celebrity.
Meekness and Service
Unlike worldly leaders who rule through intimidation and power plays, a kingdom man achieves true greatness by being a servant and exercising outward-focused dominion. Worldly rulers lord authority over others through fear and leverage. Jesus redefined greatness as service, where dominion benefits those around you rather than dominating them.
James and John sought the highest honors in the kingdom through raw ambition. Jesus corrected their method, pointing the Sons of Thunder away from Gentile power plays and toward service.
Stopping Excuses
Waiting for ideal circumstances or grand resources prevents you from taking action. By utilizing ordinary tools right where they are, you can achieve massive impact.
Shamgar saved Israel from the Philistines as an ordinary farmer using an oxgoad. He struck down 600 Philistines with this simple tool. Wally Amos started a multimillion-dollar cookie empire from a mailroom job using his own homemade recipe.
To move forward and execute, you must follow concrete steps:
- Stop making excuses and use what you have right now.
- Take each challenge one step at a time, one day at a time.
3. Spiritual Authority and Identity
Every kingdom man possesses royal identity and must use God's Word as his primary weapon against spiritual opposition.
Without the Word of God, you wander lost and become ruled by circumstances rather than ruling over them. A lion roars to warn intruders, startle prey, and declare dominion. A lion's roar carries 5 miles, a distance equal to the length of 88 football fields or 283 basketball courts. You must exercise spiritual authority in the same way by using God's Word as your primary weapon and guide.
Royal Identity
Every man has been crowned majestic by God, but Satan tries to hide this royal identity to keep men from advancing God's kingdom. You must put on the full armor of God to stand firm against spiritual opposition instead of fighting against mere flesh and blood.
In C. S. Lewis's The Horse and His Boy, Shasta discovers after securing victory that he was not a peasant, but the true crown prince and elder of twin princes.
To evaluate your current standing, consider these points:
- Examine if your life looks like that of a pauper or a prince.
- Identify what struggle you have mistakenly viewed as against flesh and blood.
- Consider how Ephesians 6:10-17 will change your outlook and actions today.
Spiritual Warfare
Satan has power to intimidate, but through Christ's death on the cross, he has been completely stripped of his legal authority. Christ disarmed rulers and authorities according to Colossians 2:10 and 2:15, removing their bullets just like an unloaded paintball gun. Colossians 1:13 explains that believers have been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
Reflect on these practical steps to anchor your daily life:
- Assess whether you are living as if your enemy's gun is loaded or empty.
- Keep your eyes focused on your Victor rather than your enemy.
- Step into the victory provided by Christ today.
4. Family Leadership and Legacy
A kingdom man mirrors Christ by putting women and children first, cherishing his wife, and passing down the blessing.
Putting Family First
True headship requires self-sacrifice. You are charged with ensuring the safety and emotional, spiritual, and physical health of those under your care. You must act as the sun that warms rather than the wind that forces.
In 1852, 643 people were on board the British Royal Navy ship HMS Birkenhead when it struck a rock. Captain Robert Salmond and Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Seton ordered their men to stand fast so that every woman and child could take the lifeboats.
Take these steps to lead your home:
- Bring out the sun through warmth and kindness rather than winter weather and bitterness.
Passing the Baton
Leadership is like a baton rather than a trophy. You must successfully pass down God's covenant blessing to the next generation. A biblical blessing involves divine destiny, significance, authority, and a productive future. If you fail to live out the blessing yourself, you leave nothing to pass down to your children.
At the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, both the U.S. men's and women's 4 x 100 relay teams dropped their batons in the semifinals while leading and were disqualified. Sprinters reached speeds of 23 miles per hour before the failure. Jamaica won 3 Olympic golds in the same event, while the U.S. teams combined for 25 Olympic gold medals across history.
Apply these principles to your family legacy:
- Turn your hearts toward your children.
- Learn the importance of the blessing and pass God's covenant promise down.
Conclusion
Personal alignment, spiritual authority, and family leadership fit together to form a comprehensive framework for expanding God's kingdom on earth. When you submit your life to divine authority, you gain the spiritual power necessary to lead your family and influence society. You cannot separate your private walk with God from your public responsibilities as a husband, father, and leader.
To live out these principles every day, you must follow a clear set of practical rules.
- Submit completely to God's rule and accept absolute responsibility for your assigned realm.
- Cultivate meekness by placing your strength under divine control for the service of others.
- Wear your spiritual armor daily and use the Word of God as your primary weapon against temptation.
- Cherish and protect your wife by mirroring Christ's sacrificial love and servant leadership.
- Train your children intentionally through instruction, discipline, and the transfer of a generational blessing.
10 Key Ideas
- Pursuing the kingdom requires absolute commitment and personal cost because men often lower God's standard of manhood to make things comfortable.
- A man misaligned with God's principles continually produces broken relational results, just as a misaligned car chews through rubber.
- True kingdom leaders stop making excuses, drop passive behavior, and take absolute responsibility for their realm and sphere of influence.
- True greatness means maximizing your potential for God's glory and the good of others through meekness and submission to divine authority.
- A kingdom man achieves true greatness by being a servant and exercising outward-focused dominion rather than ruling through worldly power plays.
- By utilizing ordinary tools right where they are instead of waiting for ideal circumstances, you can achieve massive impact.
- A kingdom man must exercise spiritual authority by using God's Word as his primary weapon and guide against spiritual opposition.
- Every man has been crowned majestic by God, but Satan tries to hide this royal identity to keep men from advancing God's kingdom.
- A kingdom man mirrors Christ by putting women and children first, cherishing his wife, and acting as the sun that warms rather than the wind that forces.
- You must successfully pass down God's covenant blessing to the next generation because leadership is like a baton rather than a trophy.