Brave Men S1E7: Don’t Pick Up the Snake!

It's Brave Men with Paul Lewis Cole, wisdom and courage for the journey. Brave Men starts now. Welcome to Brave Men, I'm Paul Cole, Proverbs 6, verse 27 says this, When you build a fire in your lap and not burn your pants, I love that, that is so practical. Today, here's the word for you, now it's a simple word, it's short, it's one major point, but it could save your life. And that is this, don't pick up the snake, don't pick up the snake, I'm going to hit that in just a moment. Let me remind you, Paul Lewis Cole, .com, p-a-u-l-o-u-i-s-c-o-l-e, .com, is where you'll find all the connections that are connected to Brave Men, AchieveLab.org, this amazing new site for successful men and men who want to be successful to fulfill your dream, AchieveLab.org, series of videos, hundreds of hours of amazing teaching on AchieveLab.org.org, and then cmn.men, Christian Men's Network.men, cmn.men, that's where you'll find resources for discipling your son, discipling people in your church, helping others come to a place of health in their lives, and cmn.men, you'll find the resources of the Christian Men's Network there, and materials and tools from all over the world, and for the world, we're ministry now, in 137 nations, Proverbs 6, verse 27, can you build a fire in your lap, and not burn your pants, don't pick up the snake, here's the backstory, here's the point, as a farmer, as the story goes, the old story of a farmer up in the mountains, way up in the mountains, and he's walking and climbing, it starts snowing, it starts freezing, and he looks down, and he sees a snake, and the snake looks at him, and the snake says to him, you know I'm a warm weather snake, and I'm going to die up here, it's freezing. The snow I didn't expect, I'm going to die unless you help me. The farmer looks at the snake and says, I'm not going to help you, you're a poisonous snake, I know who you are, I know what snakes are, I know what they look like, the snake says no, no, no, no, I know I'm poisonous, but that's not the issue, I'm going to die, I need help. The farmer says I'm not going to help you, you're poisonous, I touch you, you'll bite me, I'm dead. The snake said listen, nothing will happen, just pick me up, put me in your jacket, take me down to the bottom, and we'll be, we'll, we'll part, we'll go on our way, the farmer says okay, picks up the snake out of his compassion, puts it in his jacket, warms it up, walks down the mountain, sets the snake down, pulls him out, sets the snake down, and as he sets the snake down, the snake reaches up, bam, bites his hand, the man looks at him and said, you bit me, I'm going to, this is going to kill me, I'm going to die, what, what were you doing? You said that this wouldn't happen, you said that everything would be okay, that I just put you down and did go your way, and the snake looked up at him and said, you know, you knew I was a snake when you picked me up, you know what, all of us have picked up a snake, we knew we shouldn't do it, we did it anyway, and this story so well portrays what happens to you and I so often, we know we shouldn't do it, and we do it anyway. Wisdom, the essence of wisdom, when we talk about wisdom, wisdom is doing the right thing at the right time, wisdom is with all the accumulation of facts and understanding and knowledge, to be able to do the right thing, no matter what the emotions are, or what the lies are, having wisdom discernment, godly wisdom, here's what it says in the next chapter of Proverbs, chapter 7. And this is in the message translation, I love this, listen to this. As I stood at the window of my house looking out through the shutters, watching the mindless crowd stroll by, I spotted a young man without any sense, oh man, I've been there, I've been at both places, I've been at the window, and I've been that guy. Verse 8, chapter 7, Proverbs, arriving at the corner of the street where she lived, then turning up the path to her house. It was dusk the evening coming on, the darkness thickening in tonight, just then a woman met him, should been lying and wait for him dressed, to seduce him. Brazen and brash, she was restless and roaming, never at home, walking to streets, loitering in the mall, hanging out at every corner in town, she threw her arms around him and kissed him. Boldly took his arm and said. I've got all the makings for a feast. Today I made my offerings, my vows are all paid. So now I've come to find you, hoping to catch sight of your face, and here you are. I've spread fresh, clean sheets on my bed, colorful, imported linens. My bed is aromatic with spices and exotic fragrances come. Let's make love all night, spending the night in ecstatic love-making. My husband's not home, he's away on business, and he won't be back for a month. Soon she has a meeting out of her hand, bewitched by her honeyed speech. Before you know it, he's trotting behind her, like a calf led to the butcher shop, like a stag lured into ambush and then shot with an arrow. Like a bird flying into a net, not knowing that it's flying life is over. Another translation says, and he walks into his death. That's why you and I need to be aware at all times. The Bible says the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy the enemy is a liar, it tempts us, and the essence, remember the essence of temptation is that it's tempting. So here's the deal, we've got to make a decision today, you and I, don't pick up the snake. I'm not picking up the snake, I know it's a trap, I don't care what it says, I don't care how plaintive it looks, I don't care what the issue, I'm not picking up the snake. For some of us, that may mean getting rid of porn, it may mean where we cut corners on a business deal, it may mean where we really took some money that wasn't ours, it may mean the way we treat our families, the way we talk to our wife, it don't pick up the snake, don't put fire in your lap and hope you won't get burned. The power and the anointing of God as a follower of Jesus Christ will give you the strength to resist temptation, and that's why we have to get into the word. The word says Psalm 119, verse 11, chapter 111, as Psalms says, your word, I've hidden in my heart, in other words, the essence of who I am, your word of hidden in my heart, so I will not sin against you. I believe that as we walk through life, there are times we're going to pick up snakes. The beauty of being a follower of Jesus Christ is that he said, there's not one thing that can happen to you that I can't redeem. And so he'll forgive us, he'll help us make it right. I can't tell you though how many times I've sat with a man who has picked up a snake and the poison bite has caused the death of his marriage or the death of his ministry, the death of his business. And so while there's redemption in his heart, there's still a heartache that follows him, perhaps the rest of his life, don't pick up the snake, want to thank you for being with me on brave men today. I believe that as you make a decision today, right now, make the choice decision, my eyes are open, I look, I see it and I'm not picking it up, I'm not believing the lie anymore. Hey, I love you, I believe in us, I believe in Jesus and I love my wife. You've just experienced brave men with Paul Lewis Cole, Paul as president of the Global Fatherhood Initiative.