Guard Your "Inner Circle"

You must guard your “inner circle”…

You must carefully choose who you will allow to become your close friends.  Why? Because we tend to become like the people we associate with on a regular basis.  Proverbs 13:20 says, “He that walketh with wise men, shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

The book of Proverbs has much to say about our associations, our relationships with people, and for good reason.  We can so easily be influenced by others. (Study Proverbs 1:10 &15 - 14:7 - 22:24-25)

Building the right kind of friendships can prove beneficial to us. Becoming involved with the wrong crowd can prove harmful, even disastrous!  Remember the story in 2 Samuel 13:3; “Amnon had a friend…”  A friend named Jonadab, who led him to wickedness.

As parents – monitor the friendships your children develop.  How many times have you witnessed good kids influenced by the wrong crowd?

In high school, I stayed clear of bad influences.  I played sports; basketball, baseball, track, and cross country.  In those days, if you were caught smoking, drinking, or found at a party doing something immoral, you were kicked off of the team.  I loved sports too much to run with the guys who did bad things.  But that changed in my senior year.  I got hooked up with a rock band and for the next 3 years of my life, the devil took me for a ride. Thank the Lord, I got saved at 21 and pulled away from the wrong crowd.  My life would have been different if I hadn’t.

You must exercise discretion when it comes to your associations! Guard your “inner circle”. You’ll be glad you did! Take if from someone who learned the hard way. 


Pastor Bruce Freeman


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thank You

Image
Hello everyone, Pastor Bruce here with an important announcement regarding our daily devotionals known as “The Pastor’s Pocket.” After today, these will be discontinued.   I am so thankful to each of you who have enjoyed reading these devotionals and I trust the Lord has encouraged you through each one. I challenge you, as Peter does, to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).   It is my desire that you will continue in your own personal study of the word of God. Learn the Word, Love the Word, Live the Word!   There may come a time when I can write these again, but for now, I will devote my time to other areas of ministry and ways to serve Him! “To HIM be all the glory both now and forever. AMEN!”   The Pastor’s Pocket Pastor Bruce Freeman
Read more

From Christmas to Calvary

Image
Matthew 16:21, “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”   From His birth to His death, Jesus suffered. In the scripture verse for today, Christ is preparing His disciples for the suffering. He was about to endure the final stages of His ministry on earth. He describes how He will suffer, how He will die, and then be raised on the third day. All of this was the Father’s plan for our redemption, our salvation. For that plan to be carried out, Jesus had to enter the world. His entrance came through a lowly manger in Bethlehem.   The sufferings of Christ begin with His birth. Jesus left the glories of heaven and subjected Himself to the limitations of time and space. He confined Himself to a body for the first time. If baby Jesus bit His tongue, He experienced pain. He got thirsty for the first time. He experienced h
Read more

Not Home Yet

Image
 As Christians, we’re destined for something much better than what this world has to offer!  As the old song says, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passin’ through, my treasure is laid up somewhere beyond the blue…And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.” The Bible tells us our time on earth is brief (Psalm 103:15 / James 4:4).  If we’ve trusted Jesus as our Savior, our eternal home is heaven.  Therefore we are seen as pilgrims just passing through here.  We are aliens, strangers to this present, evil world system. Isn’t it silly? We spend so much time trying to “have it all” here and now, when in reality we already have it all “in Christ”.  Abundant life that Jesus told us about doesn’t have anything to do with having an abundance of things.  It has to do with the quality of life we possess with all the spiritual riches that come from knowing Christ. God warns us not to love this world.  We must never get too attached to “stuff”.  The fact is; we will suffer rejection, ex
Read more