How to Prepare for Success & Build Strong Friendships | Bible Wisdom | Proverbs 27:1-27

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways. Well, good morning, good More this week talk

the whole through good More. Good morning to you. Nothing

will be grander than living in Louisiana.

Whatever. I can't say it. I never said. No, it's

halfway through the song anyway, it's not even in the

first verse.

That's right.

Hey, Well, good morning everybody.

And we hope that you are having a wonderful day,

and we hope that reading God's word will maybe set

you up to even have a better day.

Yes, how about that? That's great. I believe it will.

Yes. And we have a segment today.

We have a segment today and the segment is called Mailbags.

Mail Bags. Today's segment is written in from a guy

named Tom Kay. Hi Tom, but it's not Kay Why

it's Kate letter Not.

Don't know who that is. I know Tom Kulowski, but

he's from Youngstown, Ohio. I doubt he's listening.

Hi Tom.

Here's here's what Tom says.

What is one achievement you feel most proud of, something

that stands out as a significant milestone in your journey?

Of personal growth. It could be an experience.

Where you became a challenge or made a meaningful impact,

or reached a goal that holds the value to you.

So a wide range, yes, right.

It could be meaningful, like significant, or it could be

something like just a personal goal, or it could be

like a challenge that we personally overcame.

So that's a wide I mean, our achievements are so

fast and so numerous, not all the.

Volumes of the books of the world.

So it's difficult. It's difficult. Oh wait, that was Jesus.

That was Jesus. It's difficult to identify just one. You know,

perhaps you know, setting the goal to be the humblest

person we know.

Have you ever seen the movie The bucket List?

Yes you did, really?

Yeah, where where they had a bucket list.

Of always and Technicolis. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have a

bucket list because of that movie.

Oh do you really?

Yeah, I've told you about my bucket list. I know that,

but I do know it was because movie.

That's really cool.

Anyway, I'm ticking them off, so I have let me Sure.

It sounds frivolous, but it actually was rooted in a

personal achievement. Okay, so I have and still do have

an incredible fear of heights.

I don't like heights. I have a hard time.

You know that bridge in Michigan, Northern Michigan where you

walk and there's as.

A glass and as a glass bottom.

I just did that and it's not even like it's

not even that scary, right, and it's super wide, it's

super strong, and I just did it with my family

this summer, and I had the hardest time walking over

that glass rich I was. I was almost paralyzed, right,

So it just comes and goes. Uh So because of that,

I just was so tired of it that I wanted

to overcome it. So I started off with parasailing and

I did, which you know, very very high, right, bungee jumping.

I've done that.

I've done rock climbing, and I've jumped out of a plane.

I did went skydiving. But the first time that I

went skydiving, it was one of.

The most It was one of the most.

Paralyzing things that I have ever experienced in my life.

It took every ounce of strength to jump out of

that plane.

So who jumped you or the guy you were jumping with, it.

Was more so the guy I was jumping with, Come on,

he was he.

Was he was strapped to me because you have to

clip in, right, Yeah, it was.

It's tandem, is what it's called. And uh and I

and and I didn't resist him, but he sort of

waddled me over.

To the edge and uh and and you know what,

the you know, the weirdest part is is when you're

up and you're flying at you know, X amount of

miles an hour, you don't really really realize how fast

you're going because the clouds are moving real slow. So

the guys in front of me, they fell super fast

and then they went super uh you know, far back,

so literally they went like that. They were like they

were just gone right. And when they jumped out in

front of me, I was like, I was wanting to

throw up.

It was just an unbelievable thing.

And the idea of you having a solid ground to

jump into nothingness, I'm telling you, it's so paralyzing. And

and I started I started screaming, and the guy's.

Like you okay, okay. I'm like, okay, just go, just go, and.

He rocks me out and he goes wan. And when

he rocked me the first time, my face went out

into the wind.

So he's like one.

Three, and then finally once you jump, then I was

okay because I was like, oh, this is kind of nice,

you know, and I felt I felt confident.

Uh but yeah, it was a huge.

Overcoming milestone for me because and then by the way,

I did it twice after that.

Well, you have a ton of people that have so

much anxiety just hearing that story. I'm sure. I'm so

you overcame that proud.

Yeah, And you know what, honestly, the second two times

were out of fun, but the first time was because

I had to overcome Wow.

Good for you, but yours, I think along those lines.

You know, in college, I got myself kicked out of

college twice, and then I was kind of frustrated with

my movement and where I was engaged in ministry and stuff,

and so I just left for a few years. And

then I felt like God was pulling me back, and

uh minutes, I dropped out of Bible College and dropped

out of Yeah. So I was still attending in church,

but I wasn't preparing for ministry at all. Between my

junior and senior year. It was almost four years in

between those times. So because I switched schools some you

know how don't transfer all that kind of stuff. I

crammed a four year degree into six years, but then

I had to spread it over eight and a half

years to get to get it all done because of

your break. Yeah, because I took that break, and so

I think finishing finally when I decided, you know what,

I should go back and finish what I started. So

I was twenty seven when I graduated from college, but

that was that was kind of a big thing for

me to go back and finish what I started because

I'd caused my own problem. At the beginning, I wanted

to blame other people, but I'd caused my own problems,

and so to come back and overcome the problems that

caused it was a big part. There's a big achievement

in my life, I think.

So I've known you for how how many years?

I don't know, too long, forever nineteen years and nineteen years.

Yeah, that is the first time I realized that you

actually took a break between your junior and senior year

of actual years. Yeah, I knew about the you know,

I knew about everything else except for the fact of

the time frame.

Yeah, I didn't know that I was married and had

two kids when I graduated from college.

I did not know that you were twenty seven when

you graduated college. Huh, yeah, that is incredible.

Yeah, So I just I think the thing was I

didn't give up, right, and so I was proud of that. Wow,

which was weird because I've told you before, coming out

of high school, I was like the wonder kid. Opportunities

people already talking about hiring me, all that kind of stuff.

Everything I did worked, and then I kind of blew

my own life up, not in horrible ways, but just

dumb stuff. And then yeah, yeah, and then I got

resentful of where I was coming from and couldn't figure

out what I wanted to be or do. And then

you know, God got a hold of my heart and

pulled me back in. I finished up my senior year.

At that point, it's hard. You got a pregnant wife

with baby number two, baby number one is growing like

a weed. I'm taking twenty two credits both semesters of

my senior year and working forty that's working forty fifty

hours a week, and then volunteering in my church on Sundays. Yeah,

and so that was it was a pretty brutal life

that year sort of finished that. That was a big achievement.

Oh wow, good for you.

Yeah, well, I think that's all the time we have.

Okay, I was gonna I was gonna.

Mention other ones.

Have another one. It's already we're reading proverbs today, so

they're little slogans.

Okay, So how about this one on a more significant level.

For the very first time in my career as a pastor,

I organized and executed a five K for the benefit

of somebody around the world. So part of an organization

that rescues children from sex trafficking, we actually were able

to get four hundred and something runners involved and raising

money and we raised one hundred and forty thousand dollars

benefiting people around the world.

And you know what, that was a that was a

really cool By the way, it was a lot of work.

It's for an organization called Transform one from.

One Yeah and uh, and it was a lot of work.

But when you give selflessly to people that you most

I mean, I've met several of them, but but you know,

people you don't meet around the world, it feels really great,

you know.

So it was it was a big accomplishment and and

we know the founder of that ministry and the people

leading in that ministry very well, yes, very trustworthy. Where

can our listeners get information about transform.

One oh, transform one dot org so it's transformed, then

the number one dot org and.

Yeah transform and then the number one dot org.

Yeah, you know what I would I would love.

There's this thing that we came up with the during

the race, I wear a cape. It was really fun,

you know because I like superhero but it's a hero

thing where you're like, hey, be a hero.

To a child, go online and do that monthly sponsorship.

So there's different amounts all that kind of stuff, but

you know, yeah, that would be the invitation.

Well, God says to speak up for those and intervene

for and work on behalf of those who can't defend themselves,

and so that honors God man, good job. That's really great.

You know what else is really great?

Worse ever, Yeah, Salomon gives Solomon gives some really great

advice here in Proverbs twenty seven.

So remember has Akiah was digging through the temple and

he finds these other writings of Salomon, and he wants

to be a good king, and so this is a

big deal. And so this is Proverbs twenty seven through

or twenty five through twenty nine are all the writings

of Solomon that king has Akaiah found. Hey, hey, you

know that's is great the Bible, the Bible. The Bible

is great. That's right, So here you go. In twenty

seven verse one, it says, don't brag about tomorrow, since

you don't know what the day will bring. And then

very appropriate to the segment for today, says, let someone

else praise you, not your own mouth, a stranger, not

your own lips.

Literally, a segment said, what is something you're proud.

You're proud of? Someone else praise you. Yeah, A stone

is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused

by a fool is even heavier. Anger is cruel, and

wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous.

An open rebuke is better than hidden love. Wounds from

a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.

A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter

food tastes sweet to the hungry. A person who strays

from home is like a bird that strays from its nest.

The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as

perfume and incense. Never abandon a friend, either yours or

your father's. When disaster strikes, you won't have to ask

your brother for assistance. It's better to go to a

neighbor than to a brother who lives far away. Be wise,

my child, and make your heart glad. Make my heart glad.

Then I will be able to answer my critics. A

prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes

blindly on and suffers the consequences. Get security from someone

who guarantees a stranger's debt. Get a deposit if he

does it. For foreigners, a loud and cheerful greeting early

in the morning will be taken as a gurs. Oh,

here we go again. A charrelsome wife is as annoying

as constant dripping on a rainy day. Stopping her complaints

is like trying to stop the wind, or trying to

hold something with grease.

Stands bro That is unbelievable.

Solomon man, He just he lets you know where his

problems are, doesn't he? Every every couple chapters?

And by the way, both of those things are incredible.

We're pictures right.

Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind.

That's unbelievable.

Because you and I we have no idea what that means. No,

we we just we can't stand them. That experience a

strange concept Verse seventeen. As iron sharpens iron, so a

friend sharpens a friend. That's you and me, Budy, hey man,

that's right.

There you go, and we have good nuggets in here.

It takes a lot of friction to sharpen iron.

That's right, that's right, sparks.

As workers who tend to fig tree are allowed to

eat the fruit, so workers who protect their employers interests

will be rewarded. As a face is reflected in water,

so the heart reflects the real person. Just as death

and destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.

Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a

person is tested by being praised. Wow, you cannot separate

fools from their foolishness, even though you grind them like

grain with mortar and pestle. Know the state of your

flocks and put your heart into caring for your herds,

for riches don't last forever. And the crown might not

be passed to the next generation. After the hay is

harvested and the new crop appears, and the mountain grasses

are gathered in, your sheep will provide wool for clothing,

and your goats will provide the price of a field,

and you will have enough goat's milk for yourself and

your family and your servant. Girls.

Hey, you know what I'm gonna do.

I'm going to do something that i've I don't think

i've ever done before.

Do it.

I'm going to say to our listeners that you know,

it would be a really great exercise. Would it be

great if everybody who's listening or watching on YouTube, if

they could rewind it to the beginning of when you

started reading this proverb chapter? What was it twenty seven

to one and you read twenty seven verses. Yes, here's

a good challenge. Wouldn't it be cool? Go back and

listen and pray. Pray, just say quick prayer and say God,

let me hear what you need me to hear. Which

of these verses will stand out and apply to your

life where you're at right now, Because even the single

verse that says arpen iron sharpend's iron.

Well, I mean that's a whole sermon, isn't it right? Right?

Talking about do you have a friend in your life?

That's right?

You know, the.

Every single one of these in here are just an

unbelievable you know thing here, It's just an unbelievable thing.

There's so many great segments in here.

You know, listen, death and just as death and destruction

are never satisfied, so the human heart is never satisfied.

That could be somebody, right, That could be somebody. So yeah,

just go through it and just ask yourself like, Okay, God,

what verse do you want me to hear? So I

encourage everybody to do that, go back and do it,

and then say, okay, God, this is the one that

stood out to me. Because I'm telling you, when we

pray that way and we say God, speak to me,

God will use some of these to jump out of

the page and you'll be like, Wow, this one right

here that stands.

Out to me. And open rebuke is better than hidden love.

You may be mad at somebody for saying something you

don't want them to say, but maybe God wants to

speak to your heart and say, you know what, They're

only trying. They're saying that because they love me. They're

saying that because that is a real friend.

Right.

And then the next verse has.

Wounds of a sincere friend are better than many kisses

from an enemy.

Well, enemy, he's gonna tell you what you want to hear.

An enemy necessarily an enemy of your soul that wants

to harm you or kill you intentionally. But a person

who's unwilling to tell you the truth. Solomon is saying,

they're almost like an enemy because they're not being a

true friend.

Yeah, yeah, they're fake.

They're fake, right, They're not a true friend, right, because

a true friend is going to say, hey, you have

you know, you have something on your face right, your zippers.

Down right right?

And you're like, wow, I can't believe you said that

to them. Well that's what a true friend says, right, right.

So yeah, go back and watch it. I think that'd

be a really good exercise.

It's great. You know, we love the Life Application Study Bible. Yep,

And we don't get any money from Tyndale who publishes that.

But you should get one, honestly, you should get one.

It helps so much. And you know you read those

are a lot of words but it's they're one liners,

and so after a while you can just start saying

one more one liner and not even thinking about it.

So sometimes getting back in and looking at the notes

really helps. And we laughed a lot about verses fifteen

and sixteen to qarrel, some wife is as annoying, Oh

so funny, is it? By the way, I just wanted

to check. Is that why you wanted everybody to go

back and really into it one more time. I'm hoping

that maybe, yeah, I'm hoping all the wives go back

and just yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No, that's right. I

think yesterday has said, don't say you're making a joke.

I'm a fortified city.

Yeah that's right. So but the note for the Life

Application Study Bible applies to all of us, not just wives.

It says, quarrelsome nagging, a steady stream of unwanted advice

is a form of torture. Yes, and that's what that's

the Solomon's thing. It just drives me.

Nuts, like dripping rain.

Right, people nag because they think they're not getting through,

But nagging hinders communication more than it helps. When tempted

to engage in this destructive habit, stop and examine your motives.

Are you more concerned about yourself getting your way and

being right than about the person you're pretending to help.

If you are truly concerned about other people, think of

a more effective way to get through to them. Surprise

them with words of patience and love, and see what happens. Yeah, right,

So that's not just a women thing or whatever. You know.

So Solomon is just speaking from his experience a thousand wives, right,

and so you know from him, he's just speaking of

his experience. But the reality is that constant nagging is

not just a female thing. It's a male thing. To

just drip drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip drip.

That reminds me of the movie Planes, Chains and Amobiles,

John Candy and Steve Martin. He says, you're like a

chatty Kathy doll with a string, but nobody pulls it

except for you.

Right, true, Yeah, he pulls his own string. It's so great,

such a good one.

Yeah, A person who is full refuses honey, but even

bitter words taste sweet to the hungry. That's a third

verse connected to that, those first two thoughts.

Ryeah, Yeah, it's just so good, yeah.

And then I love verse twenty three and twenty four.

This is a very probably of the you know, hundreds

of proverbs that I quote on a regular basis, this

one is at the top of my list with regard

to leadership and responsibility. Know the state of your flocks,

and put your heart into caring for your herds. Because

riches don't last forever. The crown might not be passed

to the next generation, and so he says, Instead, if

you're paying attention to your flocks, you're paying attention to

your herds. You're paying attention to your crops. After the

hay is harvest, the new crop appears and mountain grasses

are gathered in. Your sheep are going to provide wool

for clothing. Your gates will or your goats provide for

the price of a field. You'll have enough goats milk

for yourself and your family and your servant girls. He's saying, Listen,

if you pay close attention to the state of your flocks,

if you're paying close attention, you're putting your heart into

caring for your herds, then you can have confidence that

at harvest time there's going to be plenty. And you know,

that hey, when the hay is harvest and new crop appears,

he says, that's when your sheep will be ready to

be sheared as well, and you'll have plenty of clothing,

and your goats will provide an for a price of

a field. When everybody else is having to sell, you'll

be ready to buy right, right right, and you'll be

able to get a discount. The worst time to buy

a field to plant in is in spring. The best

time to buy is after the harvest, when that owner

is thinking, man, I might not make it to next year.

I probab should sell my field. Right, you're gonna get

a good deal. So what he's saying is, if you're

paying close attention, you're putting your heart into caring for

your wealth you're paying, you're putting your heart into you're

knowing the state of your business, all those kinds of things.

It's not just about money, it's about leadership. Then you

can have confidence that if you're paying close attention, it's

not micromanaging, you're just paying close attention. Then when the

time comes to harvest, you'll have plenty. When the time

comes to seize the moment, you'll be ready, and that

that you know, I think I mentioned that last week too,

but I think it was Mark Twain that said, it's

amazing how lucky I get the more prepared I am, right, right, So,

if you know the state of if you know your situation,

know you're your your financials. I was just in a

conversation with somebody talking about finances and preparing. We're getting

ready to do a financial freedom summit. Yeah, and so

as we were planning that, one of the guys was talking.

He's a financial advisor, a professional financial advisor, very very successful,

and he said, it's astounding how many widows don't have

the bank passwords.

Oh well, talk about being unprepared, right.

That don't have How many widows and widowers don't have

their spouses passwords on their phones. They can't get all

the photos, half the family photos, right, They don't know

where to get the next thing right. It wasn't planned out,

they didn't they So there's wealth out there, they can't

get it. The management of the life, and so just

paying attention we get we sometimes in the most important areas,

we get lax, and then we leave our family struggling.

Or those times where I've had times where there was

an investment. For years, I've enjoyed learning how to trade,

not trade, invest particularly with global currencies, as just a

goofy hobby. So where my wife might be playing a

game on her phone at night, for a long time,

I was trading on fake trading accounts. They were free

accounts that I wasn't trading real money, But I was

trading on the real market right, right, and just learn

how to do that. And I would see things and

I'd be like, boy, if I had a thousand bucks,

I bet you can make a lot of money. And

time after time after time after time, I would double

or triple or quadruple a fake money investment. But I

wouldn't pull the trigger. I wouldn't actually put the money in.

And then I'd look back and go, I wish I'd

done something about that, right. And it was because I

didn't have the margin financially, so my own personal finances

I knew how to get it, my own personal finances

weren't in a place where I had the margin to

be able to execute on it. So when that field

came up for sale, I couldn't get it right. And

I look back at that. I'd look back at so

many opportunities that were missed because I wasn't as diligent

at the time. And I'm trying now here, you know,

trying to be a real grown up in my fifties.

I'm trying to get more and more diligent with those things,

and I'm seeing an opportunity to seize out seize the

opportunities I couldn't seize a couple of years ago because

I didn't build in the margin. So if you know

the state of your flocks, if you're being diligent with

your business, there's no guarantee that things are going to

be good tomorrow. That's what I says. The crown might

not pass the next generation, but if you are diligent

with your stuff, you'll have opportunities to expand more and

you'll have plenty and not only you, but your family

and even your servy girls.

Yeah, that's great.

I love that passage. It's one of my favorite passages.

Solomon writes about there's so much in that one.

Yeah, my dad is still with us, and he's eighty

he's born than thirty nine, so eighty six this year.

And he is a folder, an actual physical folder, not

on phones or computers, right, But it's in the filing

cabinet and I remember seeing it for twenty years at least,

and it's titled When I Die.

Oh, and it's this thick wow.

And it's everything everybody will ever need to know.

So talk about being very diligent, very diligent, which is

the opposite of most.

Right correct correct.

So hey, that is our time, so hopefully we will

see you next time on the Bible guys.

Mhm h