Contrasting Good and Evil, Wickedness and Righteousness, Christ Is The True Friend To All Believers and Is Our Strong Tower

Today's Focus Scriptures: Proverbs 18:1-24


"Conclusion: The only zone of safety is the name of the Lord which is the strong tower in which one may find rest and be fortified against the evil one, if they will but come into it by faith in God’s Word." -

Summarized Bible - Complete Summary of the Bible By KEITH L. BROOKS Copyright 1919

Proverbs 18:1-24

1 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire;
He rages against all wise judgment.

2 A fool has no delight in understanding,
But in expressing his own heart.

3 When the wicked comes, contempt comes also;
And with dishonor comes reproach.

4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;
The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook.

5 It is not good to show partiality to the wicked,
Or to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

6 A fool’s lips enter into contention,
And his mouth calls for blows.
7 A fool’s mouth is his destruction,
And his lips are the snare of his soul.
8 The words of a talebearer are like tasty trifles,
And they go down into the inmost body.

9 He who is slothful in his work
Is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.

10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
The righteous run to it and are safe.
11 The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
And like a high wall in his own esteem.

12 Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty,
And before honor is humility.

13 He who answers a matter before he hears it,
It is folly and shame to him.

14 The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness,
But who can bear a broken spirit?

15 The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge,
And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

16 A man’s gift makes room for him,
And brings him before great men.

17 The first one to plead his cause seems right,
Until his neighbor comes and examines him.

18 Casting lots causes contentions to cease,
And keeps the mighty apart.

19 A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city,
And contentions are like the bars of a castle.

20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth;
From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing,
And obtains favor from the Lord.

23 The poor man uses entreaties,
But the rich answers roughly.

24 A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Treasure - Where Is Our Treasure Stored? Heaven or Earth? Serve The Perfect Master and Add To Our Earthen Vessels Treasures In The Knowledge of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Today's Focus Scripture: Matthew 6:16-25; 34

Matthew 6:16-25; 34

16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face
18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.


LAGNIAPPE:

Store up for yourself treasures in heaven.  So add to the treasure box here on earth, our bodies in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 2 Corinthians 4:7 ~ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves

2 Peter 1:5-9 "... add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,  to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Strengthened and Enabled By Christ For Service To Him: The Law Discloses Deeds of the Flesh

Today we had great discussion about sin, the Law, and being enabled and strengthened by Jesus for service and ministry.


Today's Focus Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:8-16


1 Timothy 1:8-16

8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers
10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching,
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened [enabled] me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service [ministry], 
13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;
14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.
15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
16 Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. 


LAGNIAPPE:

From 1 Timothy 1:8 - "... uses it lawfully..."

USES
Strong's G5530 - χράομαι - chraomai - khrah'-om-ahee
to handle; to furnish what is needed; (give an oracle, “graze” [touch slightly], light upon, etc.), that is, (by implication) to employ or (by extension) to act towards one in a given manner: - entreat, use.

LAWFULLY
Strong's G3545 - νομίμως - nomimōs - nom-im'-oce
from G3551 - legitimately (specifically agreeably to the rules of the lists): - lawfully.

G3551 - νόμος - nomos - nom'-os
law (through the idea of prescriptive usage), generally (regulation), specifically (of Moses [including the volume]; also of the Gospel), or figuratively (a principle): - law.


Romans 7:7
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Read Romans chapters 5 - 7 for more about the Law and sin.

Love - Love - Love; Let Us Not Forget - We Are One Body

Today's Focus Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 12:18-31 - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

1 Corinthians 12:18-31
18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.
19 If they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now there are many members, but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;
23 and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable,
24 whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,
25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.
28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they?
30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?
31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Loving One Another and Our Neighbors As Ourselves - By Doing So We Accomplish and Satisfy The Whole Law

Today's Focus Scripture: Galatians 5:5-14

Galatians 5:5-14

5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.
10 I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.
12 I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.
13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”


LAGNIAPPE:

How do we "Fulfill" the whole law as Christ did when He died?
By loving one another and our neighbors, that is how.

Verse 14 - Fulfilled

Strong's G4137 - πληρόω - plēroō - play-ro'-o
to make replete, that is, (literally) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or (figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or coincide with a prediction), etc.: - accomplish, X after, (be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full (come), fully preach, perfect, supply.

We Have A Dream In Our Hearts Which The Lord Has Promised Us - Don't Give Up On That Dream

A special thank you to Pastor Eric Hulet for being our guest today on our 400th recorded call, the 500th overall Life Chat for Men.

Thank you Pastor Eric.

Today's Focus Scripture: 1 Samuel 27:1-12

The promise of our dream is from the Lord - do not abandon the dream He gives you.

Do not wander away from your dream.

There are times when the dream seems crystal clear, and sometimes it seems the dream just kind of fades. We guard each other in times when the dream seems to be fading.

1 Samuel 27:1-12

1 Then David said to himself, “Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.”

2 So David arose and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

3 And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow.

4 Now it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.

5 Then David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your sight, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

6 So Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.

7 The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.

8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for they were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt.

9 David attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive, and he took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish.

10 Now Achish said, “Where have you made a raid today?” And David said, “Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites.”

11 David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring to Gath, saying, “Otherwise they will tell about us, saying, ‘So has David done and so has been his practice all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.’”

12 So Achish believed David, saying, “He has surely made himself odious among his people Israel; therefore he will become my servant forever.”

Summary: David gave up on his dream of being king. This chapter is a model of bad leadership.

Six observations by Pastor Eric:

1. David said something to himself in verse 1 where he convinced himself it would be better to go live with the Philistines.

When it comes to the pitfall of surrendering to the thought that the dream has died, or failed, we must really watch our self-talk is not driven by the opponents of our dreams instead of our dreams being driven by the promise from the Lord of the dream. 

There are all kinds of "voices" that would set themselves against the dream that we have in our heart.  We must be on guard to not repeat what the opponents of the dream are saying and end up convincing ourselves away from something God has promised.

2. Good leadership is not defined by whether other people follow, but by whether the followers are the better for having followed.

(verses 2 and 3 speak of all those who followed David - but David was not leading well)

By and large most folks are willing to follow somebody. The test for us in pursuing our dreams is not whether or not we can say "Hey look at all these folks that are following after me, so this must be the right thing."

We have to ask ourselves "Am I really leading them in a way that is for their good." A good leader helps the followers to be better people.

The onus is on us as men to be sure we are leading people in a direction that makes them better.

3. The absence of resistance is not a confirmation of wisdom. (verse 4 -Saul gave up pursuing David, which at this point David no longer had any kind of resistance from Saul. This did not indicate that everything was fine or OK.)

Jell-O does not sharpen iron, iron sharpens iron. 

Things may seem to be going well, but the reality is the pressure, the resistance, and the tension needs to be in place for productivity.

Our best friends are often not the ones to "glad hand" us, but are the ones who provoke us to stay on track when we start wandering off the track. (This is what a true best friend is like, not just someone who is a "yes" man.)

4. David's running away from his dream shows us that we need to beware of welcoming the wrong people. (verses 5 - 7)

The wrong people can give us favor, remember - "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."

We must be alert when others are asking us to cast in our lot with them.

"Compromise accommodates detour so often in the pursuit of our dreams." 

 Hold true to integrity, to truth, stay and do not get detoured because someone seems to be saying all the right things.

5. Natural success in someone else's cause does not rationalize the abandoning of our own dream. (verses 8 - 10 - David seemed to be doing well in battle, but was actually fulfilling the Philistine's cause, not his dream.)

We need to be honest with ourselves when we are at a vulnerable place regarding our dream, and not just rely on what seems to be working, i.e. "Well it all seems to be OK. I mean I am making money."  Or even something to the effect of "Well we must be doing something right, because we are growing or successful, etc."  This could be a danger point that we can sometimes use the wrong basis of measurement as to whether or not we are in fact doing what we know God has given us to do.

In these times there are questions we can ask ourselves:

• Is what I am doing right now truly satisfying me?
• Do I have a true sense of accomplishment of what is going on?
• Am I giving my energies to unrighteousness?
• Am I giving my energies to somebody else's cause, something that God has not really asked me to do?
• Am I injuring those that I should be protecting?

6. David tries to cover up what he has done.  He does not want anyone talking about so he thinks he'll just kill everybody and they won't know that he attacked his own people, Judah, etc.  But they did know anyway. David left a negative legacy in this sense.

Masking your failures cannot prevent a negative legacy.  People see and know even when they don't see and know. Trying to cover up your failures, or running away from your dreams, this will not prevent a negative legacy.

Only stepping out and going forth and pursuing and staying true to the dream God has given us will inspire good legacy.

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The lesson for today concerning the dream God has given us (whatever that dream is), we need to guard ourselves and each other.  Guarding each other is being a true friend, keeping each other on track with what God has called us to do, and ultimately getting to the end of that particular dream, event, or race.

God will help us to not wander away from our dream and not surrender to failure. God has not called us to failure, but He has called us to true success and true victory.

Jesus, He Is Our Deliverer - Not Tormentor - He Saves Us And Protects Us; Even Those With Little Faith

Today's Focus Scripture: Matthew 8:23

Things to ponder while reading the focus scriptures for today.

1. “Why are you fearful, you men of little faith?”
2. “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
3. The whole city came out to meet Jesus, and they begged Him to depart from their region.

Matthew 8:23
23 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.
25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
26 But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
28 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.
29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.
31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”
32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.
33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.
34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.


Just some odd things to think about.

To imagine that there are some who would feel so distant from Jesus that they would have to ask such a question as demons would.
“What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

And again to be part of a society that begs Jesus to leave them alone.
"... the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And... they begged Him to depart from their region."