Advice to my son

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Be and Become podcast, featuring Francois Carr, a hardware and connected life ministry. Francois's international ministry equips and encourages pastors, ministry leaders, and fellow Christians as they discover what it means to truly be and become the followers they were meant to be. Thank you for joining Francois today as he offers a few words of encouragement from God's Word.

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We have just celebrated Father's Day, and as I mentioned in the previous devotion, I also thought about my own father. I remember him attending all of our ball games. He was trying his very best to provide for us and to help us in all the needs that we have. But the one thing I do remember from my father clearly, he's sitting on his bed every night reading his Bible, closing his eyes, and praying before going to sleep. I would love to talk to him today about that. What was he reading? What was he thinking? What was he praying about? How did God answer him? What was God sharing with him? What advice can he give to me that I can use even today in my own walk with God? And I believe all of us today, when you look back in your life, there are things that you wish that you knew today, but forty or thirty or twenty odd years before that you can st when you started your life and your journey here upon the earth. Maybe on finances to start saving, maybe issues of health and your body, your relationships with loved ones, but also your relationship with God. Many Christian people, when they look back in their life, they said, Wish I got to know Jesus as Savior at a young age that I can grow in my faith and my walk with him. There are so many wasted years and opportunities. I would love to talk to my father about that and ask him for the advice that he can share with me that he has received from his father, that I can then tell my kids and my grandkids what I have learned from him and also what I have learned in my walk with God. Now, is there a book in the Bible like that? Yes, there is. It's called the Book of Proverbs that can give us some guidance between a father and a son. It is Solomon who wrote that book. He shares some lessons with his son and also future fathers of what he has learned, probably from David or his grandfather Jesse, or from God Himself, and He's teaching those things to his own children that is also applicable to us in future generations. But you know, as I was reading through the book of Proverbs and just looking through that, I saw that the word my son appears 23 times as I was reading through the first couple of chapters of Proverbs. And every time when I read through that, there's a tremendous insight and wisdom that comes with that verse of Scripture. And I want to encourage you to take some time to read through the book of Proverbs and look at the word my son. Just underline that and see what is the advice that the Father is giving to his son. But some of those moments are connected to the word listen. In chapter 1, verse 8, chapter 2, verse 2, chapter 4, verse 1, and chapter 4, verse 20, he said, listen, my son, listen, listen, listen. And that's the word Shema, is to hear, to give her, to give heed, to hearken to what he said, to pay attention, to obey. In Proverbs chapter 1, verse 5, verse 8, and verse 33. And so when I look at that 23 moments that he calls his son my son, and he attaches the word listen to that, there's a tremendous amount of insight that we can learn from that. And I want to share with you six points, just briefly, but I want to encourage you to take some time to read through this and to pray through this for your own life. What is the six things that he gave to his son in chapter four, which is so important in helping him in his walk with God? First of all, he said, listen closely to these words. And he speaks about the impact of what he's about to hear on the ears of his son. And also he uses many, many terms in the book of Proverbs that speaks about wisdom. But he also used a tremendous amount of those that speaks about the act of listening. Now, this is the third time in chapter 4 that the father speaks to his son to give attention, to pay attention to the words of the father. But here the word pay attention means to prick the ears, to listen closely. That actually pictures a person that is bending forward or leaning in to hear more carefully what he is about to say. The father wants his son to do more than just simply hear what he's saying. He wants him to see, to feel, to understand what he's saying, and to retain in his heart what he's hearing and seeing in that moment, to keep it in front of his eyes, because that will direct his path. So he wanted to prick his ears, he wants to lean forward and to pay closely attention to what he's about to tell him or what he can learn in life. So he needs to learn how to listen with his ears and to pay attention and leaning forward and to see, to understand, and to make it his own. Secondly, he told him to guard his heart, because the heart is the wellspring of all things, it's the source of all actions. So what you put inside your heart is what will come out of your life and your mouth in that moment. If you put bad things inside, you will reflect bad things from your behavior. So you need to protect your heart, my son, he says, at all times. Thirdly, is to put away all things and have nothing to do with deceitful and all kinds of corrupt talk in verses 24. In other words, just stay away from perverse and corrupt people at all times and put it away. Number four, to keep your eyes pure, free from lust, look straight ahead at all times, and verses 25, because your eyes is the gate to the heart. And secondly, the eyes can become, when you're looking around, a distraction from the goals that you have set for yourself to stay pure and to be on this road. Just like the Lord Jesus, who said in Luke chapter 9, verse 62, that no one puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. And if if we are raised with Christ, we need to seek the things that is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Colossians chapter 3, verses 1. But even as we think about the life of Christ, the Bible tells us that Jesus understood his great purpose, God's will for his life, and so he steadfastly locked his eyes on fulfilling that purpose. When the days draw near for him to be taken up, the Bible says he set his face to go to Jerusalem in Luke chapter 9, verses 51. And then to remove all stumbling blocks from your path and stay on the clear and the righteous pure road in verses 26. If we really want to race and to finish well, we must look ahead and remove all things that might cause an injury or even a fall. Then lastly, he says, Do not turn aside, get sidetracked, nor follow an evil path in verses 27. So he encourages his son. He said, Consider all these things, the ears, the heart, the eyes, the feet, all work together to keep people on the right path and to finish their race and their course well. And so when I look back in my own life, I wonder if I knew that from the very beginning. How to learn how to pay closely attention, how to protect my heart and my mind at all times, and my ears what I listen to, and to pay closely attention to the advice of my father and my mentors and my great-grandfather and all the people that God has put in my life for a reason. Where would I have been in my Christian life and my walk with God if I have paid close attention by leaning forward and to understand and to make it my own and just to put that into my heart? And so I want to encourage you in this day to take some time to pray about the word my son. Look at those 23 verses of scripture in the book of Proverbs and make it your own. And take some time to pray through this and give that advice also to your kids and your grandkids. May God bless you.

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Thank you for listening to this Be and Become episode with Francois Carr. For more information about the ministry, visit the website at ConnectedLifeministries.com. We hope you'll join Francois next time as he continues the conversation on what it means to be and become the follower you are meant to be.