BraveMen S3E83: Paul Louis Cole - Your Priorities Change Everything

I just grabbed a cup of coffee from Bon Giorno and jumped into the studio to share something with you that over the last couple days has really continued to work on me and I work on it in order for this year to be a successful year and I think it's going to be mean a lot to you right now and that is this your priorities change everything your priorities change everything and what you value you will make a priority and your priorities they show what you value I grabbed this coffee I sat here and I'm going to I've written some notes out you're going to I know you're probably driving or other working out or whatever but make sure you go back through this and take some notes if you are sitting somewhere where you can write some of these things down because this year right now in your life this month this year pivotal time in your life I don't care how old you are where you are but it's a pivotal time in culture and history and in your life so I want to give you this what you value you will make a priority and your priorities show what you value your priorities change everything the book of Genesis is not just about creation it's not just God showing up and there's chaos and he says let there be light but it's the story of how God works with mankind essentially the story of God man six men one of them Abraham Isaac Jacob and then Joseph okay they come after Adam than the other the other man is Moses but Joseph is the one we want to center on he has a dream as a young man God gave it to him he didn't just come up with it because it becomes the guiding force of his life he makes it a priority Psalm 37 chapter 37 verse four says to light yourself also in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart God bless dreams and God bless men make a God blessed world now Joseph he gets this dream his dad Jacob has has favored him because he's born to his the wife that he actually originally wanted it's a long story you can look it up the other brothers are from other moms now he ends up having this favor on him he's the youngest one these are guys who end up being the tribes of Israel so this is not some lightweight thing or little sidebar deal he has this dream that he will end up being one that the that can help the other men okay that he's going to be the ruler of the leader well they don't like that they beat him up check this out they beat him up they they end up not killing up and and one of them says Ruben says hey well let's just sell them to those guys slave traders they sell them in the slavery he ends up in Egypt he's he's in a place called potifers potifers house and he becomes the leader of the house of the manager of the house and and then he's falsely accused of trying to rape the guy's wife he ends up in prison for years through a series of miraculous events he becomes the CEO of Egypt 26 years later he becomes the rescuer of his entire nation in all the chaos he held onto his dream why Joseph had his priorities set correctly set your priorities and don't let go that changes everything today on brave men it's brave men with Paul Lewis Cole wisdom encourage for the journey okay thanks for being with me today my name is Paul Cole and I have the blessing and privilege of leading an organization called the christian men's network and the global fatherhood initiative and we provide tools for the the discipling of men and over 100 nations around the world about 900,000 men every single month going through those materials to be stronger men we believe strong men make strong families strong families make strong churches and the churches the hope of the world so that's our thrust that's that's where we're at and then we've got this podcast brave men got something called Monday night men that's on youtube and facebook live every Monday night and then guys use that sometimes during the week sometimes weeks later and go through different materials we have this story about Joseph is from a great book called the power of potential and the power of potential is a book my father doctor Ed Cole wrote and it's called talks about maximizing principles of God to fulfill your dreams and make your dreams come to pass and this is one particular aspect now there's 13 30 minute cranked up inspirational things there on youtube just type in Monday night men a search bar Monday night men or christian men's network all one word and up will come to see him in christian men's network cuff youtube site and everything else and then also we have the cmn.men you can find the dangerous nations campaign 15 nations our goal over the next five years in 15 nations to train 5000 pastors to disciple 5 million men in the toughest places on the planet you know i believe if you disciple a man you change the future of the world and that's a priority for us it's a priority for me this is it's not just a job this is a calling this is something we've given our lives to and those of us involved with cmn and thank you for those of of us our friends that thank you for being a part of this being here today you know this thing about priorities for Joseph it's a macro micro sort of thing it's a balance there's there's the 40,000 foot viewpoint you know like the next five years of my life let's say and then there's the next five minutes there's the micro it's though when you get up in the morning your priorities there's a rhythm to it when you look at the life of jesus christ there was a rhythm to his life prayer time time with friends time by himself time with his family and so when we talk about these things it's i want to hit a couple things that Joseph did now Joseph is is a picture of a type if you will quite often we see the types of jesus in the in the word of god in the first covenant second covenant the whole bible is all about jesus he came as a logos of god check this out one of the meanings of logos is harmony or rhythm in other words priorities that helps set your daily life macro micro so the macro is hey you know i really want to be a great baseball player i want to end up you know playing college ball or i i want to end up with a great business i want to make sure my marriage lasts there's macro things you know i want to grow in this part of my life i want to be closer to god i want my family to be friends with each other that's a good one i want these so these are these larger things i want to be able to provide for my family then the micro is how do you start your day how do you make it work every single day what's the micro okay here's one of the things that Joseph did and we're going to talk about today priorities set your priorities so he's got these larger priorities well for Joseph now he denies it been in prison and in those sorts of things this his priority probably is just maintain and hold on to his dream that's it that's a hold on to my dream and we'll see what god does with it but Joseph most likely prayed three times a day his great grandfather Abraham instituted prayer in the morning Abraham is known as the father of faith Isaac then the next guy Abraham Isaac and Jacob Isaac added prayer in the afternoon and then Jacob added prayer in the evening so it became part of the DNA the culture if you will of their family culture is what you lean into you know cultures what you accept as normal or what you reject this is not who we are and we talk about that on Monday night man you can go through that see some of the different lessons and stories I mean this thing's really packed with gold but he prayed three times a day the daily habit of his family and his upbringing we know Daniel remember that guy Daniel was in Babylon three times a day remember they caught him put him in the lion's den because they caught him praying passed a law against because they knew he prayed three times a day facing Jerusalem and so here's the macro micro I don't believe you can just wake up and pray hey I've got to have it a prayer yeah awesome and then say well what now you know just pray you know oh god you know you know I'm just believe it I remember talking to a guy one time and he said I'm just believing God's going to bring something and he said well what are you doing well I'm just waiting well like what are you doing while you're waiting not just waiting like no you'll find what God wants for your life when you go help somebody else do what they need I mean go help somebody be active get out there get stuff done get up in the morning and pray but Joseph had this Joseph had this bigger thing I'm holding on to this dream I know it's going to happen so you can't plan the next five years of your life without putting into place a daily ritual you get up prayer whatever that may be working out I've got a friend who works out every single morning so up at 5.30 bam he's working out that's this is ritual he's a businessman he's not he's not like some friends I have who who the workout is part of what they do as a business only a gem or something like he's a business businessman very successful but he's decided this is one of my priorities and he's put it into place and he's done it for seven or eight years now he's to solid you know you can't plan the next five years without putting in the next five minutes Joseph had his priorities and gave him strength that's the power of priorities it's an inner strength you can't see it but you see the results here's why let me give you a couple of stories pressure magnifies under pressure we find out who a man really is remember pressure doesn't make a man it only reveals a man for who he really is everything is more intense I mean think about the pressure of taking a test you know wherever that may be you maybe it may be your test for your insurance license so maybe a test for you know becoming a lawyer it may be a test in school but that test magnet it's just intense what about making payroll and I can remember you know my payroll was in my business was a 15th and 30th you know the middle of the end of the month or I guess the first in the middle whatever it was but but I can remember a few times but it's like if the payroll is on the 15th of the month on the 14th I'm praying and by the afternoon I'm asking my wife to pray with me right it gets intense and or presenting to a group or being in a game you know presenting to a group my there's there's probably not too many things more stressful than than knowing you've got to get up in front of 38 people and you've got to nail this thing or game you know you know basketballer you might be playing city league what or childbirth childbirth now there's something intense man pressure magnifies pressure makes everything a big deal and I don't know if you've skied in in warned goggles but it's it's not that big of a problem if you're at eight or 9,000 feet in your scheme to have a little crack in your goggles but when you're in the death zone this a cracked goggle changes everything that's what happened to a man I talked to recently his name is Brian Dickinson in fact it has become a book he's been on every major sports program good morning miracle all kinds of stuff fox and friends talking about what happened to him on May the 15th 2011 when his inner goggle it was his two parts so inside and outside and the and the and that helps keep your eyes think about the the the you know what happens at 26 28,000 feet the you know what you're in the atmosphere so thin there's nothing to stop that son from just cooking your eyes so that goggle so important and his inner goggle had cracked the day before he finally had to pull it out because it was freezing over and he really he was so intent on getting up the mountain getting up Mount Everest that he didn't think much about it here's what happens his his Sherpa and by the way this is a full podcast with this guy we do a whole podcast with Brian Dickinson it may or may not be out when you when you hear this but look for that is it is a remarkable story the book's called blind decent so is it 26,000 feet he's climbing he's he's just let broken camp and you start climbing the day before you climb all night in order to be at the top of Everest at the summit as the sun comes up say roughly six in the morning and then you take a few pictures and then it's three or four hours down to below the death zone which is 20 that above 26,000 feet his his Sherpa a friend of his pa sang gets sick at 26,000 feet Brian Dickinson and he they talk and Brian decides to go ahead and summit now it's an unusual day because there's no other groups summiting he's the only man this is extremely rare on Mount Everest because it's a very very compact window of time that you can climb it summit with all the weather that happens up there 29,035 feet Brian gets it he makes it takes photos and turns around to go down takes a couple steps and all of a sudden everything goes white I think about this pressure magnifies he can't see he's actually at this point he's gone snow blind so it doesn't get dark he gets white and he can kind of see vague images pressure magnifies man he's certain he turns and he just says God I need your help he told me in the interview he said man it was at that time I really he said you know I had you know earlier in life I had committed my life to Christ become a follower Christ but it was at that moment that like everything dialed in God I need your help he told told Anderson Cooper and was Anderson Cooper's an ABC or something and he's he told him in an interview he said he said all of a sudden I knew someone was there with me someone was there with me a calm this came over him so like all of a sudden he gets this piece in him now he got down it's crazy what happened he fell at one point he's trying to see rocks he has to get over there's one particular area you walk that's only about three feet wide and a joke is it's two miles down on both sides of this three foot wide little place that they go across this coal and one size Nepal the other sides Tibet and the joke is this is a dark humor right the joke is you can choose which country you die in Tibet or Nepal because one missed it this guy can't see he holds a record for the a solo deset you know blind solo deset amazing story takes him seven hours he finally gets down to 26,000 feet pressure magnifies but there was a calmness in him here's the key right to stand the difference in men who succeed and men who fail is their ability to handle pressure the difference in men who succeed and men who fail is their ability to handle pressure to come up with in the moment of intense pressure to have an inner peace I believe that comes from a sense of identity talk about it in just a moment purpose that you have that in you from God this is what Colossian says that Christ gives to every man a sense of identity I'll give you another one there was a really intense this is an amazing moment and Rob Mata and I the AP sports reporter from Philadelphia now we're talking about it recently on a podcast and February 4th 2018 Super Bowl it's a Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots now Carson Wentz was having an MVP year in a game 14 just a couple games before the playoffs Carson Wentz gets hurt I mean he's out Nick falls the the backup quarterback comes in plays good enough that they barely make it into the playoffs now they've come through the playoffs falls has become better each game but he's still considered an understudy backup even though he is old much older than Carson Wentz he's still considered a backup people don't have a lot of faith in him like yeah I don't know I don't know what's going to happen here and so they come into the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots even though they had a great year they come in as big underdogs man not gonna make it now check this out it's the end of the first half and if you don't understand American football there's two halves and at the end of the first half time it's all timed time is just like soccer time is running down and there's 30 seconds left they call time out now here's the setting the balls on the one yard line it's fourth down okay so the next play is the end of basically the first half the Eagles are up 15 to 12 surprisingly but the thing we all know is that Tom Brady always figures away to win just sort of figures it out in the second half man you know 15 to 12 man Patriots are coming back they're going to make you know mid course corrections so what happens in these next 30 seconds right now they call a time out Nick falls runs out walks over to Doug Peterson the coach and as he's walking over his Peterson's trying to think of do I kick a field goal or go for a touchdown field goals probably sure thing three points it's gonna be 18 to 12 you know that's that's not a bad score to have time but that's not a big lead not not when you're up against Tom Brady so Nick falls turns around walks out it's just great it's on YouTube you can see it he walks out and dude I'm telling you that I'm not an Eagles fan the only time we've ever been well it was never an Eagles fan I was a fan of Reggie White because he was a friend I've been a fan of a few other guys because they're followers of Chris but never an Eagles that's all but this moment is unbelievable Nick falls walks over and looking at Doug Peterson says Philly Philly and Peterson looks at him says okay what it is is a trick play you gotta see I can't do a good enough job of describing except that the end result is that Nick falls actually the quarterback actually catches a touchdown he's so far the only man who's ever thrown a touchdown and caught a touchdown in a super bowl game and man they do it they make it happen they go back in and Nick falls they asked him later man what did you what were you thinking this could have been disastrous he said what I thought was regardless of the outcome this doesn't define me this is not who I am regardless of the outcome it doesn't define me here's a cabral Jesus didn't come as a prince of panic he came as a prince of peace and the issue for many of us as we don't define peace out of a biblical world view we define it based on what the world says and the world defines peace is the absence of conflict or the absence of storms or the absence of war oh good I'm at peace because there's no conflict there's no storms there's no issues I'm at peace it's a garden it's you're out fishing and you don't and you don't need to call anybody and you just you know it's like peace well it's peaceful but that's not the true definition of peace according to the word of God the definition of peace is in the word of God is not the absence of storms but the presence of Jesus in the middle of the storm it's not the absence of conflict but the presence of Christ in the middle of the conflict John 14 verses 25 through 27 this is a new living translation John 14 25 through 27 check this out Jesus said I am telling you these things now while I'm still with you but when the Father sends the advocate is my representative that is the Holy Spirit he will teach you everything will remind you of everything I've told you I'm leaving you with a gift this is awesome this is Jesus talking to you and me says I'm leaving you with a gift that is peace of mind and heart and the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give so don't be troubled or afraid brother I'm telling you in the middle of a chaotic world that we're living in right now with pandemics and and political stuff and business up and downs and all sorts of things are going on don't be troubled or afraid the peace that Christ gives us is the peace of mind from knowing our identity that you're loved you have a purpose and the storm does not define you that doesn't mean there isn't pressure my gosh man I've been there you've been there too it means what it means is you don't have to cave through the pressure or weaken under pressure look at Psalm 78 9 through 11 it says the talks about the sons of Ephraim says take for example the sons of Ephraim though they were all equipped warriors each with weapons in other words it definitely these guys are not only have the tools but they're warriors in other words they've been taught to fight they have weapons they got everything you need but when the battle began they ran away in fear verse 10 chapter 78 of the book of Psalms says they didn't really believe the promises of God they refused to trust him and move forward in faith bro listen this is the thing about Joseph no matter what happened he held onto his dream he trusted God he moved forward in faith the reason he became the head of this household where he was a slave was because he was excellent why I mean the way he resisted pot of his wife and you got to look at it on Monday night men then the way he resisted her was because he had something bigger in mind he didn't define himself based on his circumstances or where he was his circumstances didn't define him his faith in God did verse 11 the men of Ephraim forgot the wonderful works of God in the miracles of the past priorities your priorities are built on faith let me give you two examples of right and wrong priorities okay there's a guy named Eli okay these are both dads Eli and Jay Iris two dads in the Bible both of them and in one of them the first covenant one and second covenant basically remember the whole Bible is all about Jesus Jesus was there before time after time okay so first and second covenant or everything is about Jesus Eli first Samuel is a guy named Eli now this is a guy so stout that he's the guy who trained Samuel who becomes one of the greatest judges in the history of Israel okay but here's where he messed up he he messed up on his priorities in his own family in his own life he's a high priest he's a judge in Israel he's got a prominent position and he's got two sons Hothney and Phineas these guys are jerks man these guys are the sons of Eli or jerks now this is the same man who trained Samuel but his own boys he doesn't disciple them it says these guys behaved wickedly they took the best food the best meat they took money out the back door of the temple people are giving money of the offerings are taking it they're giving food offerings and it's supposed to be sacrificed instead of going oh dude good cut a stake right there yeah I'll take that and then they're having affairs with the guy they're married and they're having affairs with the the girls who who help run the front of the synagogue I mean this it's just rampant and people know about it okay and Eli Eli at one point this goes to him hey you guys need to stop this but he doesn't do any and so what happens is with this battle the Ark of the Covenant goes out God goes out the army of Israel goes out and his two boys Hothney and Phineas feeling pretty good about themselves they go out front like yeah we're bad you can't defeat us we got the Ark of the Covenant and boom God's lifted his hand off them and they get killed and then they come back and tell Eli hey your boys got killed Eli's about 93 years old this time come back and tell him hey your boys got killed in this battle he gets so freaked that he that he no I know this is not funny but it's unbelievable what happens right now we'll check this out this is Eli okay he didn't set his priorities and what happens it bites him in the butt his sons get killed all right they come and tell him about it he gets so freaked out he falls backwards off his chair breaks his neck he dies okay at the same time that's happening Phineas his wife is having a son so this is the grandson of Eli the mom she dies in childbirth but just before she dies she names that little boy Ikabod which means God has departed from us Ikabod doesn't have a good life doesn't live long his son dies young and that's the end of Eli's family line gone because he didn't set his priorities now here's a guy okay and check it out the Eli is prominent like he's he's the God guy in Israel now here's Jay Iris in the new covenant second covenant new testament Jay Iris is the leader CEO of a synagogue okay when Jesus is alive and he comes to Jesus this is a Mark 5 Matthew 9 Luke 8 Jay Iris comes he's the CEO of a synagogue he's a heavy dude of the people who were tried who eventually get rid of Jesus so this is a group of men in the synagogues across Israel who are who are really not happy with Jesus they're ticked off eventually they kill him but Jay Iris has a 12 year old daughter who's sick okay now he thinks oh man it's my daughters my girl what am I going to do check this out he goes to Jesus shows up to Jesus and so would you please heal my daughter it's a longer story it's a pretty amazing story when you read it because Jesus by the time he gets there the little girls dead everybody all these people are in Jay Iris's house okay and and they're all like oh she was such a good girl sorry you know and Jesus goes no no she's gonna live and they start laughing at him I go yeah like who were you this is that Jesus guy he chases him out remember whenever there's something that needs to get done kick negativity out of your house kick negativity out of your heart out of your house out of your mind out of your spirit kick it out get violent with it speak life over yourself speak life over your family over your business everything you put your hands to get serious about it man don't just let negativity hover hang out right so Jesus kicks him out he wants a little girl check this out here's here's the key Eli his position was more important than his sons his position was more important to him than his own sons he didn't want to lose his position he wanted he didn't want his sons to get how do I want him to get reprimanded it'll look bad for me am I lose my position we'll just kind of keep it on the down low and it wipes out his entire family line his position was more important than his sons with Jay our Jay Iris his daughter was more important than his position priorities what do you value you will prioritize see there's some things in life that are more important than life itself that's what Jay Iris thought that's what Shad Gaspard thought Shad Gaspard was a wrestler did well was moving his way up he's 39 years old got married in 2009 had a little boy air in 2010 he was part of a tag team called crime time man was six seven huge cut see pictures of him with with the rock and and other Dwayne Johnson and other men and and people and he's now he's in movies he's got secondary bit parts and now they're they're starting to expand things are happening last year 2020 May 17th at the peak of moving into all of his dreams he and his little boy go swimming off of Venice Beach in Southern California they hit a really bad rip tide lifeguard comes out he's got a board but he can't get both of them on it waves the rip tide everything going on a rip tide I grew up on the ocean now tell you there's it's incredibly powerful and if you're trying to fight against it it's like it would be like being inside one of those front loading washing machines where the things just thrashing you you can't quite get out of it so lifeguard gets out there the they quickly Shad Gaspard assesses the situation takes his son pushes him towards the lifeguard onto the board and says save my son those were Shad Gaspard's last words save my son and Shad was gone there are some things in life worth more than life itself what you value you will make a priority and your priorities show what you value go look at your statement online pull it up on your phone your bank statement what are your priorities it'll show up right there there's a guy named Eson the Old Testament sold his birthright sold his birthright he thought that he was hungry it's a it's an amazing story but he sold it sold his birthright his first born them to Esau did because he thought that he was so hungry he might die and so he was willing to sell it there's some people feel that cigarettes are more important than the bottle of beer you know just that kind of thing is more important than being available for work or you know going out having an affair is more important than their marriage there's things that we do as men that shows us if you will shows that we value our little hobby more than we value our children's lives for some men of value a few moments of pleasure is more important than their marriage and what you value you'll make a priority your priorities show what you value God so valued or loved the worldly gave his son a sacrifice for you and me see check this out that's John 316 it says that God so loved the worldly gave his son a sacrifice he valued the priority this mom was there death on the cross was agonizing but it was triumphant but Jesus was a man who was fully committed to his priorities and it changed the world let me finish with a couple things here the season of lint that we're in as I as I taped this in March 2021 here's a couple of the readings for this particular season of lint that we're in right now in this this particular week says in Ephesians 2 once you were dead because of your disobedience in your many sins you used to live in sin like the rest of the world obeying the devil the commander of the powers in the unseen world he is the spirit of work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God all of us used to live that way following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature by our very nature we were subject to God's anger just like everyone else check this out verse 4 but God is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead it is only by God's grace that you have been saved verse 6 for he raised us from the dead along with Christ so now here's identity purpose brotherhood family God seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we're united with Christ verse 7 so God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us you and me as shown and all he has done for us who are united with Christ God saved you by his grace when you believed in you can't take credit for it it's a gift from God this is Ephesians chapter 2 salvation is not a reward for the good things you and I have done so none of us can boast for we are God's masterpiece he has created us a new and Christ Jesus so we can do the dreams he planned for us long ago when you set your priorities you set your life up for success what you value you will make a priority and your priorities show what you value this book the power of potential is the one I've been using for this study on Joseph and for Monday night men the first part of 2021 you can find all those things at cmn.men cm and christian men's network cmn.men majoring in men tools that you need to disciple men to build a long a large church powerful church we're all there at cmn.men build your business with a book called treasure we've got other books that help build character wisdom remember God bless dreams in a God bless world make a God bless dreams and God bless men I wrote this down and I still messed it up God bless dreams and God bless men make a God bless world God loves your dreams my brother we need your dreams because your dreams bring us hope hope is alive hope has a name hope's name is Jesus and a big shout out to the one who prays for me every single day my wife Judy she's much more than my best friend she's my breath I love my wife and my brother God loves you grace and peace you just experienced brave man with Paul Lewis Cole Paul is president of the christian men's network connect with Paul at cmn.men or write to him at Paul at cmn.men