How long do you drive around on a flat tire? Not very long, because if you do you are going to wreck. Yet too often we have sin in our life and go on with life. Stop and really think about that as you get ready for the next set of verses.

Proverbs 18:1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.
You know it – echo! But how important this is that we catch this. If you try to go this alone it will lead to a bad place. The enemy, the evil one, will separate to destroy.

Proverbs 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.
Be careful around those that talk a lot and listen a little. Read that again.

Proverbs 18:3 When wickedness comes, contempt comes also, and with dishonor comes disgrace.
We are warned of the consequences of sin.

Proverbs 18:4,6-8 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. 6A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating. A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. 8 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.
What kind of words came out of your mouth this week? Same question, did they lift up or tear down? We need to check our words often and measure them against the Bible’s words and have the Holy Spirit measure them. Notice how the words flow deep. They are from the heart and go deep into the receivers life.

Proverbs 18:5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice.
Do we desire to be involved in sin? Are we comfortable in our sin? Let’s ask God to make us very uncomfortable with sin, our sin and then let’s start on the road to repentance.

Proverbs 18:9 Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.
I have often talked to the kiddos about how important it is to work hard and be a good employee. There are so few young people that know what work is and are willing to work hard and respect those older and in positions due that respect. Humility is such an important part of work. A young person with the right work ethic can be a powerful witness for the LORD.

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
What do you think when you hear the words – God; Jesus; LORD; Jehovah; Messiah; Christ? Are you careful and only use those names in reverence? Do you spend time stopping and thinking and learning about Him? Are you in awe of Him? Do you run to Him first?

Proverbs 18:11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.
We again are talking about how we handle and think about money. When you are thinking about money do you think about Jesus first? Do you pray first? Do you think about what will honor the LORD? Do you think, “I am a steward for the LORD of every dollar, every penny He has given?

Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
Back to humility. Here we are told honor comes with humility. We also see a challenge of our heart.

Have a great day racin’ in the Sunstone,
Todd

It is so hot this week. It shows us how frail we are. It also shows us that our comfort window is pretty small. First, the heat shows us our need for Jesus and our need for Him as our fortress, our protector, and the living water. This week we all have a great need to hydrate well. Our water intake is critical or our body will place us in a critical situation in the ER. We need to recognize our need as we have the same need of Jesus or we will be in critical situation in Hell. Have you recognized that and followed Jesus to salvation?
Second, we too often seek comfort instead of the Savior and want comfort on our terms instead of on God’s term and Him refining us. Pause and think about the week and think about what comfort you sought this week.

Proverbs 17:19 Whoever loves transgression loves strife; he who makes his door high seeks destruction.
Sound familiar in teaching? It should as we talked about that last lesson. God is again using the echo principle and driving home the point.

Proverbs 17:20 A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.
Back to the heart and tongue. I will remind myself and us, God takes sin seriously. He wants our words to be His and he wants our heart to be in sync with His. How are you doing on this? Have you ever had a hard time finding truth, finding what is good? I have and the root like we talked about recently is sin and self. Don’t give up. Instead work hard at rooting out the sin and seeking the LORD.

Proverbs 17:21 He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy.
We just passed Fathers Day and Mothers Day and I am reminded each year that children are a great joy to parents and godly children even a greater blessing and joy. Are you? Just think about it.

Proverbs 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
What side do you want to be on? Yes there is a choice. We can follow the LORD and worship Him or we can reject Him for Who He really is. We can be focused on things, self, the world, what we don’t have or we can be focused on Jesus and others and have blessing and joy. Which are you choosing right now, today?

Proverbs 17:23 The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice.
This verse speaks to several warnings for sin. Bribes, secret, perverted ways.

Proverbs 17:24 The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
Echo, we are brought back to thinking about wisdom. Proverbs focuses often on wisdom. This verse is no different. To have discernment we have to be focused on God so we gather in His wisdom. On the opposite side we see a bad ending to the fool not thinking upon the LORD.

Proverbs 17:25 A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.
We are reminded again about the parent child relationship. The foolish child is hard on a family.

Proverbs 17:26 To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.
We should honor those around us that are doing what is right and noble. Do you look for opportunities to encourage those around you that are doing what is right?

Proverbs 17:27-28 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.
These two we have talked about, but are reminded it is better to be quiet than to always be talking. We are also reminded that calm is a measure of our understanding. How did you do this week?

Have a great day racin’ in the SONshine,
Todd

Again we stop to pray first for those in France under attack and those in the unrest in Turkey and now three more fall police Office in Baton Rouge. This world is in need of Jesus. Our hearts break over the violence that is so wide spread.

We have seen it, something goes wrong on the car and the crowd and maybe even the crew and driver wonder who checked and double checked it. We know it happens but often it is preventable. We need to check, we need to ask and answer the questions. It is best to have the LORD check our lives but it is also good to have our pastor and our friends, our mentor and accountability partner often checking up on us, keeping that list of sin short, watching and being watchful. We don’t want to slowly drift away or crash and burn abruptly.

Proverbs 17:10 A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.
You know, echo. How do you receive a rebuke, a discipline, a correction? It can measure where we are in our relationship with the LORD.

Proverbs 17:11 An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
It is sad that we see so much of this lived out around us. This country is sinking farther into the pit of evil and sin. It can be traced back a long ways so the challenge is will the church stand for righteousness and the LORD and not buckle to the world around us? Will you?!

Proverbs 17:12 Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.
What a good word picture God uses here. We all know you don’t mess with an animal protecting her young. That is the intensity we need to stand against sin. Are you?!

Proverbs 17:13 If anyone returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.
HEAR THIS WARNING! We have to be vigilant at keeping evil out of the home and lives around us. We can’t let our guard down. We need to be very careful what we watch and listen to. This is a serious deal.

Proverbs 17:14 The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.
I can testify to this from many occasions but one recent one is as we care for a couple of little ones who come from a home that has some deep struggles we see and heard the outburst. The sad thing is I see how it has affected each one of us. I have been walking the house praying over the home, those in it.
It is as real as air and we are reminded of this clear teaching in Ephesians 6 – it is not flesh and blood we battle against

Proverbs 17:15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
Here we are, we found another thing that bothers God, no, more than bothers. God says this too is an abomination. It is the one that tries to talk his, her way out of sin and instead points their finger at the righteous. Ouch!

Proverbs 17:16 Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense?
What do you think of that question? What do you do with that question? This may not be the right thought but I think of the higher learning centers in the world (colleges and universities) and I think how they are wasting so much resources. Just think about that. Yes there are good reasons and good things in continuing your education but I do warn you, be careful. They are trying to shove God out of many of those institutions.

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
What a great verse and reminder. We have all heard the little one say, “I don’t like you!”. We don’t want to be driven by childlike thoughts or words. Let our love and friendships be truth.

Proverbs 17:18 One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.
Do your promises mean anything? How would your spouse and children, your parents, your boss, your crew answer that? Enough said.

Have a great day racin’ in the SONshine,
Todd

Breaking News:
We need to first stop and pray. With all that is going on with the shootings we need to be in prayer for this country. We are headed in a bad direction and reaping the product of sin. We have little or no value on life and now look at what is happening. It is time to get serious about revival and repentance. It is time to get serious about change. We can’t just say we want change we have to change. We have to agree with the LORD and seek Him and change direction. We need to ask God to give us a love for our fellow man. This is sickening. Primarily men, but women and children also being gunned down. Dozens of shoots fired every week. Police shooting. Blood flowing in the streets. We should be alarmed. We should be broken hearted. We should find this wrong.
Please join me in pleading with the LORD.
Pray Acts 4:12 and pray that there would be a great outbreak of salvation as people turn to Jesus as the one and only hope there is to save this country and lives.

Street Drags or one on one drags at the track are quick. One of the most important things is to stay in your lane. If don’t there is going to most likely be a wrecked car or cars and others could be hurt. You have to be focused and keep your eyes and wheel steady. This is important for our life in Christ too.

Proverbs 17:1 Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
How many of you were teenagers? How many of you have teenagers? Then you know. It is not easy.
We see here that God wants us to have a positive, encouraging, peaceful home. That is why we have to be guarding our front doors and back doors. We have to have the LORD shield our minds and hearts for the family but we have to do our part too.
What if you are the one causing the strife in the home? Or in the streets? Will you, will I, be willing to admit it and willing to turn from the selfish ways that create the strife?

Proverbs 17:2 A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.
Do you want to parent wisely? Center your family on the Word of God and on God. Do it! Think this is important after seeing this week’s news?! I think so.

Proverbs 17:3 The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.
It is a good thing to be tested by the LORD. He looks at our heart and knows what is really going on. It also is scary in the sense of what He finds. Is it your desire to please God? What does God find when He test our heart today?

Proverbs 17:4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
What do you listen to? Who do you enjoy being around? Really think about that this week and measure it. Evil WILL INFLUENCE us so the amount of noise, the amount media, the amount of senselessness will affect us. BE ON GUARD!

Proverbs 17:5 Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
Listen to the two things brought to the forefront here. 1) The poor and how we think and act towards them and 2) our attitude towards chaos, disorder. God is a God of order and truth.

Proverbs 17:6 Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.
It is a great thing to be family. I hope you don’t miss out on it. I hope you take the roles in your family seriously and are intentional at fulfilling your roles and being godly in those roles.

Proverbs 17:7 Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince.
We are back to our words and the importance of them being pleasing to God. Were yours this week?

Proverbs 17:8 A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers.
Not going to comment on this one because there is not clarity for me on the wording and translation.

Proverbs 17:9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
We just talked about broken friendship. Here is another example of what breaks friendships, covering up. We need to be open and truthful.

Have a great day racin’ in the SONshine,
Todd