Ask Pastor Mike Live

Alexis: Hi Pastor Mike. I had a question that had to do with the Bible. I think it’s Proverbs 23. It says not to talk too much about something, just do it. Can we still confide in someone and tell them our plans for the future?

Focal Point Ministries: Definitely. I think some of the warnings in the book of Proverbs have to be about people that are just talk. That's the concern. I don't know which passage you're thinking of. I think of Proverbs 24, speaking about people whose lips are always talking and talking of trouble.

There's a lot of discussion about the babbler who just babbles. A lot of the warnings in Proverbs are about people that are gossips and they're whispering to everybody everything they hear. I'm looking through Proverbs 23 right now trying to see if the passage that you're thinking of might jump out at me.

Confiding in people is fine as long as we're confiding in someone for a good purpose and someone that's trustworthy. The deep waters of people's hearts are something to be careful about. We have to be careful who we entrust ourselves to when we share what's going on in the depths of our souls or hearts.

Actions speak louder than words. The problem with entrusting a lot of our thoughts to other people with our lips is that it doesn't always amount to much. Ultimately, what matters is our actions. I know actions sometimes need to be predicated and based on people talking through their thoughts.

I have no problem with you doing that. Matter of fact, we ought to be, as the Bible says, sharpening one another like iron sharpening iron. As it says in Hebrews 10, we ought to be stirring one another on to love and good deeds as we connect and fellowship together. You've got to be open and you've got to be talking. I just don't want to be the talker who always talks and never listens or never acts. Those are primarily the Proverbs that are coming to mind as I look through the text here in Proverbs 23 and 24. Tell me more about your reticence to entrust yourself with discussions with other people.

Alexis: Most of the time it's whenever I have a plan for school in the future. When I'm talking with my family, I don't know if it's making too many plans for the future. That's pretty much it.

Focal Point Ministries: Let me talk to you about the book of James, which says any plans you make, when it talks about the merchants who are going to go here and there, go make a profit, and return home. It says you should say, "If the Lord wills, we will live or do this or that."

Part of the concern of scripture is presumptuous planning. If I’m going to say, "Here's my plan, here's my school plan, I'm going to do this course of study, graduate, and get a job there," we just need to make sure we don't do that presumptuously thinking that it's not contingent on God, it's only contingent on you and your plans and your work.

The other thing the book of Proverbs would definitely say is good is sharing your plans so that others can be your consultants and your counselors. There's victory in the abundance of counselors. When you're talking about schooling, particularly to someone who is older than you, you should be asking, "Here's my plan, if the Lord will, is it a good plan in your eyes?"

One person isn't enough for this. I think any plan that's important should be run by two or three or four people. The problem is us with our blind spots and our own minds. Sometimes we're not thinking of the big picture. Looking at my text messages here, some of the things I'm doing in this church take a lot longer because I'm collaborating with our whole pastoral team. I can write something that I think is going to be good for our website or our doctrinal positions, but people need to weigh in on it and say, "What about this? This may be misunderstood, or you're going the wrong direction here."

I want to share and confide in people about plans, as long as I'm saying, "If the Lord wills." I'm not saying my plans are inalterable. I want to make sure that I'm getting advice from people that I think are wise and might be able to say something about my plans. That means I'm open to correction and reason.

If those two things are in place, then I think you're good and you should entrust yourself and confide in people. Just know that it's not just about saying it; it's about doing it. You should work twice as hard at doing it as you do at saying that you're going to do it because that's the most important thing of all. Does that help, Alexis?

Alexis: Yes, it always helps, Pastor Mike. Thank you so much.

Focal Point Ministries: You're welcome. Thanks for the call. 877-913-5357.

Talking to you, Alexis, I think about the passage I'm about to preach at church this weekend from 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul has to tell the Corinthians that he made plans and they didn't work out. Of course, Paul is always making plans and saying, "If the Lord wills." He knows it's all contingent on the Lord's will.

There were people that were disappointed in the plans that he made that weren't fulfilled. He didn't visit them when he said he was going to, and they were mad. Some of the critics said, "See, you can't trust him." He is having to defend himself that he's never making plans without purposefully wanting to do what he says he's going to do. His motives are sincere and always for good.

Even with the change in plans, he tells these people it is because he has a good reason. It has to be a good reason that anyone could look at and agree with. He is going to explain that to them. He's in there with his other traveling companions, Timothy and Silas, and they clearly agree with the Apostle Paul that it's not time to go to Corinth.

Your plans might change, Alexis, just remember that. There are a lot of things that may get in the way. But we want to, as it says in Psalm 15, swear to our own hurt and not change. All that means is we want to say we're going to do something and do it, even if it's hard.

If you tell your wife you're going to pick up a dozen eggs on the way home, you better go the extra mile and be willing to do what you said you were going to do. We need to be people of our word, and that may be difficult even if it's to our own hurt.

Let's go back to 877-913-5357. We have a good conversation going on YouTube. Someone says, "You missed me on Bott." I miss being on Bott. I wish we were still on Bott Radio. Here is the thing about Bott Radio, just like every radio station we're on. We're on about 900 stations right now. Every station that we do our teaching on costs us money.

We raise money from people and ask, "Do you want this on this radio network or this radio station?" If they say yes, then we say it would be great if you wrote in and told us you're listening. Radio is weird; you put it out there and you don't know who is listening.

Then we want to know if you believe in it enough to support it because we have to pay for all that time on these towers and these networks and all the production costs. For Focal Point, I refuse to take any money, so I don't make any money being the voice of Focal Point.

I want all the money to go into paying for that so I can go on more stations. Every dollar that is volunteered to make this happen goes right into production costs, transmission costs, and everything that it takes to be on all these stations.

We were on Bott for a number of years and we really tried. If we don't have enough people willing to pitch in every month, then we can't be on it. All it takes is a bunch of people willing to give a little bit every month and we can make it work. But it costs a lot, and at some point we had to make the decision to go off of Bott Radio.

I see Jay was responding to you now. We miss Bott Radio. We get to see Rich Bott, who runs that, every year. Jay and I are going out to the National Religious Broadcasters and we'll go to the breakfast and talk to Rich Bott. He is a good man with a good heart running a good network, and we wish them all the best. We are very supportive of Bott Radio, and I feel bad every time we have to go off of a station because we can't afford to do it.

Maybe you're sitting out there on $10 or $20 million and you want to give it to Focal Point. We could go right back on Bott today. We will call Rich Bott up and say, "We're ready to go." It's all about people that are willing to support it. We'll go as far as we can, and that's fine.