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WATCH OUT FOR THE PERMANENT MARKS
Proverbs 17:17A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 18:24A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
A few weeks ago, I was at work and rushing to get some assignments out to my team. In my haste I picked up a permanent marker and started to write on a dry erase board. Most of you understand that a dry erase marker is used on dry erase boards, because the idea of the dry erase board is to be able to erase writings and use the board again. After I caught my mistake, it was too late, I had already ruined the board, because I used something permanent to do something that should have been temporary. After a week or so I finally got the permanent writing off the board, but it took a lot of extra scrubbing, use of chemicals, and constant effort.
Today, many of us have experienced desperate situations, in which we allowed people who should be in our lives temporarily to dwell permanently. We have to be careful who we call friends. The true test of friendship is adversity, if someone can not stand with me and strengthen me in my weak moments then they are probably not a good friend. We have to be very selective of who we allow permanent access, to our secrets, goals, ambitions, plans, emotions, etc. We have to be careful not to make permanent decisions based out of the influence of someone who is meant to be temporary.
On the flip side, we must learn how to honor and appreciate the individuals that we know has connected us with. Too often we neglect the real friends in our lives, because most of the time the temporary acquaintances bring more excitement. I believe in this season, Satan is attacking friendship. He wants us to get so caught in the drama of companionship, that we loose focus on what our call is. But if we measure a friend based off of the scriptures, we can bypass all the drama, discern who our true friends are, and move forward in our assignments. Then we will not allow temporary people to make permanent inscriptions on our hearts. Because in order to be released from them, we must go through too much extra stuff.
Pastor Marcus Beard Garment of Praise Bible Church 5303 South Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90037 323 301-0688 www.myspace.com/pastormarcusbeardMorning Service begins every Sunday at 10AM
Proverbs 17:17A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 18:24A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
A few weeks ago, I was at work and rushing to get some assignments out to my team. In my haste I picked up a permanent marker and started to write on a dry erase board. Most of you understand that a dry erase marker is used on dry erase boards, because the idea of the dry erase board is to be able to erase writings and use the board again. After I caught my mistake, it was too late, I had already ruined the board, because I used something permanent to do something that should have been temporary. After a week or so I finally got the permanent writing off the board, but it took a lot of extra scrubbing, use of chemicals, and constant effort.
Today, many of us have experienced desperate situations, in which we allowed people who should be in our lives temporarily to dwell permanently. We have to be careful who we call friends. The true test of friendship is adversity, if someone can not stand with me and strengthen me in my weak moments then they are probably not a good friend. We have to be very selective of who we allow permanent access, to our secrets, goals, ambitions, plans, emotions, etc. We have to be careful not to make permanent decisions based out of the influence of someone who is meant to be temporary.
On the flip side, we must learn how to honor and appreciate the individuals that we know has connected us with. Too often we neglect the real friends in our lives, because most of the time the temporary acquaintances bring more excitement. I believe in this season, Satan is attacking friendship. He wants us to get so caught in the drama of companionship, that we loose focus on what our call is. But if we measure a friend based off of the scriptures, we can bypass all the drama, discern who our true friends are, and move forward in our assignments. Then we will not allow temporary people to make permanent inscriptions on our hearts. Because in order to be released from them, we must go through too much extra stuff.
Pastor Marcus Beard Garment of Praise Bible Church 5303 South Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90037 323 301-0688 www.myspace.com/pastormarcusbeardMorning Service begins every Sunday at 10AM
