Tag Archives: advice

Who you gonna call when you need advice? – December 4, 2017

Today’s Podcast

Bible Reading Plan – www.Bible-Reading.com; The Story, Chapter 14; You Version Bible app Engaging God’s Story Reading Plan Days 92 through 98

This week we read the story of Rehoboam. When we think about this young king, we think about what a tragic story and how God must have messed this one up. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, took the throne after his father. Jeroboam, one of Solomon’s advisors and military leaders came to the new king and recommended the heavy tax burden and labor force Solomon had levied on the kingdom be lightened. The people were about to revolt because of all Solomon had demanded of them during his reign.

You see, Solomon lost sight of what he had promised God. Instead of God being the most important thing in Solomon’s life and service to his kingdom being his most important task, Solomon decided the kingdom belonged to him and was from his pleasure. He needed a lot of stuff to support those 1,000 wives and all those guests that kept coming to visit. Take a look at the list of what it took just to feed that crowd every day and you’ll begin to understand just why Jeroboam asked the new king to ease up.

Well, Rehoboam does a smart thing as a new king. He goes to his father’s council and asks their opinion of Jeroboam’s plan. The council agrees. They tell Rehoboam if he will do as Jeroboam asks, the people will honor him and follow him as king. The twelve tribes will remain loyal without question. But Rehoboam decides he will ask his friends that grew up with him in the palace. Remember those 1,000 wives? They had a lot of children. I can imagine Rehoboam and all his palace friends had just about anything they wanted with a father who knew no limits to his wealth. Solomon had anything he wanted. Silver was like stones on the ground it was so common in Jerusalem. Solomon owned tons of gold. Rehoboam was the spoiled king’s son and all his friends didn’t want that free ride to end.

Their advice…tell everyone if they thought his father was harsh and had heavy taxes, just wait until you see what he has in store for them. Rehoboam liked the rich kid syndrome and took the young friends’ advice. Jeroboam took his followers and revolted. Ten tribes left the kingdom. Only Judah and Benjamin remained under the reign of Solomon’s son. Rehoboam was partly paying for Solomon’s failures. Remember he failed to follow God’s laws by marrying all those foreign wives and allowing idol worship into the kingdom. He took his eyes off of what was important and began thinking riches were more important than God. So God took most of the kingdom away from Solomon’s son. Consequences of our sins never affect just us.

But just when you think God’s upper story has crashed, take a look again. Rehoboam gets the smallest portion of the kingdom because of Solomon’s failure. Rehoboam sees the rebellion and civil war rip apart a great nation because he took the wrong advice. Israel is divided. How can God’s upper story possibly survive such disastrous character flaws like we see in Solomon and Rehoboam? Well, we can only see the immediate. We can’t see around the bend. We’re limited in our view of reality because we aren’t God and don’t understand His view from His upper story.

But Rehoboam is one of those unlikely characters through whom God acts. The nation is split, but Judah stays loyal to the Rehoboam, a descendant of David. And guess who come from the line of David. Jesus. Judah’s tribe. Rehoboam’s bloodline. This rebellious young king who wouldn’t take good advice is one of those in the line of Mary and Joseph. Unlikely characters become part of God’s great plan.

So what does that tell you and me? First, it tells me we can’t stop God’s plan. He will make His ultimate will happen no matter what we might try to do to stop it. Second, we can choose to follow Him or not, but there are consequences that come with our choice. When we follow Him, we avoid the natural consequences that follow evil behavior. The law that we reap what we sow happens. Third, the consequences of our choices are not limited to just us. What I do affects my family and all those whose lives I touch. And again, I can’t influence the consequence, only the choices that I make. The consequences are natural results of the choices.

We will all make some choice we would like to redo. We have all probably take advice from someone that wasn’t as wise as we thought they were. We have probably all listened to the wrong group of friends at one time or another and now live with some of those consequences we wish we could redo.

God knows all about those. But He also made a way to forgive us and help us be a part of His plan. He made a way for we imperfect, mistake ridden, broken people to participate in His upper story so that we can join Him in His perfect garden one day. He wants us to have that face-to-face relationship we once enjoyed with Him in the Garden of Eden. He has put a plan in place to do that. It’s His upper story and in His time and in His way, He will bring all who follow Him together again into His paradise.

So here we are. We have choices to make every day and we often need to get advice from those around us. Can I suggest we look for the wise among us to find the best advice, not necessarily the popular or the smart or those filled with what the world thinks is knowledge. Rehoboam paid a high price for taking foolish advice that benefitted him instead of the kingdom. Take a hard look at the advice you get and who benefits from the advice you get. Remember we are to be servants not the served. That’s what Jesus taught us by example. Living with His philosophy of life makes those choices a lot less difficult to discern. Give it a try.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more about The Story and our part in it. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Don’t you love getting advice? (John 18:11), April 20, 2017

Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
I love to get advice from other people about what God wants for my life, don’t you? Yeah, right. We do seem to try to meddle sometimes, don’t we. That’s exactly what Jesus called Peter on in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Scripture
1. John 18:11
2. Jesus (to Peter): Put down your sword, and return it to the sheath. Am I to turn away from the cup the Father has given Me to drink?
Devotional
1. I know what is best for my adult children, right? I need to give them advice on their career choices, the spouse they choose, the things they do with their money, the places they go…even when they don’t ask.
  1. Same with elderly parents
  2. Same with neighbors
  3. Same with everyone around me
  4. I don’t need to take advice from anyone else, but I sure need to give others my advice
  5. I even try to give God my advice sometimes
  6. In our flawed state, we think we are smarter than God
2. That’s what Peter does with Jesus
  1. Attacks Malcus, high priest’s servant
  2. Tries to help Jesus escape from the Pharisees and the death penalty they wish to impose
  3. Thinks he knows better than Jesus what His path should be
  4. Thinks the Messiah must not die, but reign as a military and political leader to free Israel
  5. Steps in front of Jesus to protect Him
3. How often do we step in front of God’s plan instead of doing what Jesus did and trust the Father with His perfect knowledge?
  1. Can’t mean what He says
  2. Can’t mean for us to face the trial He puts in front of us
  3. Can’t mean for us to suffer
  4. The path must be different
  5. So we try to change the path, we step in front of His plan and try to change it
4. Often we pick up implements to challenge the enemy
  1. Sword, spear, implements of war to fight
  2. He wants us to submit instead
  3. Trust that God knows what He’s doing
  4. Recognize that He is God and His plan will be ultimately completed the way He intends
  5. We can choose to be a part of those plans or not
  6. The smart choice is to let Him take the lead and then do what He says
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Good advice from the One who knows (Matthew 5:27-30) January 13, 2015

Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 3-5

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 5:27-30
Jesus: As you know, long ago God forbade His people to commit adultery. You may think you have abided by this Commandment, walked the straight and narrow, but I tell you this: any man who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery in his heart. If your right eye leads you into sin, gouge it out and throw it in the garbage—for better you lose one part of your body than march your entire body through the gates of sin and into hell. And if your right hand leads you into sin, cut it off and throw it away—for better you lose one part of your body than march your entire body through the gates of sin and into hell.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We don’t like these words today. A lot of us would just as soon skip over this part of the Sermon on the Mount and pretend Jesus never said these things. But He did. So what do we do about them? Barna Group surveys show that adultery in the church happens about as often as adultery outside the church. The media says it’s okay. In fact, our culture seems to encourage sexual experimentation before marriage and out of marital relationships.

Our culture wants us to believe it’s okay, to engage in pre-marital and extra-marital affairs. No harm done to any parties involved. Or so they say. Look around at our society and it’s easy to see the damage, though. Broken homes, damaged and castaway children. Emotional wreckage along the pathway of life because we think it’s okay to disregard Jesus’ words.

And just like with His discourse about murder, Jesus starts with a behavior that we know will disrupt the fabric of a healthy and wholesome society and reminds us that behavior doesn’t come from pure instinct within the framework of the human creation. We have a choice in our behavior, our actions spring from thought, not pure base instinct as in other animals. We can decide to act differently. We can choose behavior that glorifies God and keeps the norms of society on a higher plane.

So the act of adultery doesn’t just happen. One must decide to engage in adulterous behavior. But the thought generates from lust long before the full blown thought of sexual engagement with another, just like the act and thought of murder simmers and grows from the germ of separateness and envy and anger.

And what is the germ of lust? Wanting something you don’t have. It’s that selfish motive that says, I want something that doesn’t belong to me…no matter the consequences. It gets back to the same motive Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden. They decided they knew better than God. Lust is the same way. I disregard what God knows is best and decide I know what is best for my life. I want to satisfy my desires the way I want them satisfied despite the consequences.

The consequences always show up. Sooner or later, you reap what you sow. Remember the story of king David and Bathsheba? He saw her bathing from his rooftop and decided he would take her even though he knew it was wrong. She got pregnant. David tried to get Uriah home from the war to pass the child off as his. But Uriah didn’t go home. The stakes get worse. David’s lust leads to murder as he sends Uriah into the heart of the battle and has Joab abandon him. Then David tries to cover his sin by doing an honorable thing…marrying the poor hero’s widow to make sure she is taken care of the rest of her life.

The people bought the ploy. God didn’t. Bathsheba’s child died. David’s son raped his half-sister. Then his daughter’s brother, killed his half-brother in revenge. His avenging son tries to take the throne and is killed in battle against David’s army. But David’s family is a disaster. The throne is in jeapordy. The nation is a mess. The loyalties of the people are torn between two factions. And it all started with David’s selfish desire for something that wasn’t his – lust! It’s a deadly game we play when we let our thoughts run away with us.

Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows how what seems like innocent thoughts can turn into disasterous actions with long range results , just like they did for David. “If your right eye leads you into sin, gouge it out and throw it in the garbage—for better you lose one part of your body than march your entire body through the gates of sin and into hell. And if your right hand leads you into sin, cut it off and throw it away—for better you lose one part of your body than march your entire body through the gates of sin and into hell.” Good advice from the One who knows us best!

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.