Next Stage Ep 10 The School Of Hard Knocks 401 - Overcoming Entitlement

Wednesday, May 16, 2024. In only 21 days from today, world leaders will gather in France to observe the 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 1944, when American-led Allied Forces invaded Nazi-occupied France that would liberate Europe from fascism. When these leaders gather to lament the fallen, comfort the survivors, and marvel at the courage of the “greatest generation,” just what will they marvel at? Will they marvel at their selfishness? Their self indulgence? Their right to a safe space? Obviously, no. On June 6, 1944, young men barely out of high school parachuted into a storm of flak, returned German sniper fire, jumped over dead and dying comrades to get close enough to take out German machine gun nests, and fight their way to Berlin over the next eleven months.

80 years later, the greatest generation’s grandchildren will gather at the beaches of Normandy to lament publicly and worry privately that the greatest generation’s great-grandchildren are too entitlement-minded to face a similar challenge.

Today on The Next Stage, Rob Stout dives into the fourth message on a series addressing how men overcome the “hard knocks” in life. Until now, Rob has been talking about the kind of character a good man needs to cultivate. In this episode, Rob talks about the sense of American entitlement and selfishness that the modern man must learn to shun.

Recap: In episode 7, Rob walked through two approaches to understanding hard knocks – the Elitist approach, and the Eeyore approach. The former says, “I am above this hard knock.” The latter says, “Just my luck. This hard knock is my fate.” The third and better approach is the Now What mindset, where a man (1) “Embraces the suck” of the hard knock, and (2) Calls the hard knock “joy.”

In Episode 8, Rob walked through three manifestations of that third approach of embracing the suck and calling it joy. These are the “Now What’s?” Now What #1: When you get knocked down, REACH OUT. Now What #2: When a friend gets knocked down, JUMP IN. Now What #3: When you get knocked down, REACH UP. (Reach up to God and take him at his offer – He wants relationship with you.)

In Episode 9, Rob dove into the pragmatics of facing and overcoming your hard knocks: (1) Get Sick and Tired of the status quo; (2) Get Moving; and (3) Make a Plan.

In today’s episode, Rob comes back to first of the three mindsets of approaching hard knocks – Entitlement, because of the pervasive and pernicious effective of myopic, self-obsessed thinking of the modern self. Would today’s man jump out of planes to brave a hail of flak and liberate a continent? More immediately pressing is this minimal challenge: Would today’s man temper his appetite and passions well enough to get married, stay married, raise and teach his children, provide for his family, and persevere through the inevitable hard knocks of life?

In episode 10, Rob addresses the myopia of today’s entitlement-minded man. Wherever you are in your journey toward authentic manhood, we’re not judging; come along and join – we’re all on a journey.

Fair warning, however: This is not a safe space, but it’s a good space.
For more information or to book personal time with host Rob Stout, visit www.Sherpa5280.com, or email [email protected].

Show Notes

In Episode 10, Rob references a section of the Bible known as the Sermon on the Mount, a famous teaching by Jesus Christ. This section deals with the importance of obeying God with a mindset of personal modesty that seeks to avoid attracting the notice or praise of men. In this sermon, Jesus teaches that while giving to the needy, for example, is a wonderful thing, it is important to not seek the acclaim of men, but rather give quietly, and even anonymously if possible.

The Sermon the Mount is one of the most famous teaching in the Bible and this section of that sermon is found in Matthew 6:1-4, which you can read online here, or you can read it in your own Bible. Don’t have a Bible? Sherpa 5280 would love to provide you one, free of charge. Just email [email protected].

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