Good News Brief For Men

Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. (KJV) We are to love Christ with all that is in us. The scriptures are very clear. The key words are, heart, soul, mind, and strength. In short, we are to totally love God with ALL of our being. In the second commandment, we are given a great example of the kind of love we are to express. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (KJV) Christ showed us the greatest sacrifice a man can make by giving of himself to the world as His sacrifice for our sins. John 15:13 states Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. In John 15:13   Christ calls us friends . His intentions are clear. We are not slave type servants obeying His every command...

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. (KJV) Here in this verse, we have two designations of people. 1) .... them that love God, and 2) .... them that are called according to His purpose. Another key point that is often overlooked is at the beginning of the verse...... And we know ...... How many times do we read something just to gain knowledge? (notice that the root word in knowledge is know). How many times must we review the Word of God in order for His promises to be realized in our own thoughts and lives? The Word of God provides so much for us to live by and through. We do not think we know ......We do not guess we know ....... We do not hope we know ......... We just simply must KNOW! We know several facts about God's promises. We know He died for us, John 3:16 even tells us He died for us, and why he died for us. When we accept Christ as our personal Savior, we have just exp...

Luke 9:62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." (NIV) I enjoyed running into this verse. I read it over several times, and the meaning sticks solid on its purpose in my life, and I wanted to share it with you. Do you ever feel like the only thing keeping you from serving a holy God is your past? Do not feel alone. Satan would love to end our outreach to others by convincing us that we are unworthy of our testimony in Christ because of our past. Good news folks, we are unworthy PERIOD! But we have Christ and His shed blood on Calvary qualifies us to become God's children with ALL the privileges that come with it. Does this mean that we are not responsible for our past or the resultant consequences? No, it does not. But it does mean that we are forgiven, and that equals spiritual freedom. We must remember that we as believers are keeping company with some of the most well-known adulterers, murderers, ...

Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever.” (NIV) What a promise this is! I have listened to people try to justify their actions by using the Word of God and compromising what it says to meet their particular needs. God’s Word needs no help. In this particular verse, we see that there is no room for compromise. We can lean on His Word, stand on His Word, speak, teach, and preach His Word, and the only thing we must do is let Him guide our hearts and minds in the delivery of His Word to others. Our confidence in His Word must be sound and unshakable, but we must also be able to accept humility when we do not understand what it says and seek His guidance to know Him more. In His Word we find clarity through research, life applications everywhere we look, and strength in time of need as well as comfort in time of trouble. Above all, His Word still stands. I could give verse after verse to substantiate everything I have pointed out here, ...

Galatians 5:16-17 So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. (NIV) In our daily spiritual battles with Satan, God calls us to remain pure and steadfast. He knows that we will battle with the temptation of sin and oftentimes that battle will be fierce. Some battles we will win, and some we will lose. BUT if we learn from our losses, they are not really losses, are they? We must remember that we are human and some spiritual lessons are harder to learn than others. God knows this and also knows that we are like sheep and can be led astray. Satan is very powerful in the techniques that he uses to draw us away from God, yet there is still no reason acceptable by God for He promises not to put more on us than we are capable of bearing through Him. Folks, i...

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (NIV) We must devote ourselves to prayer if we are to express to God the self-discipline necessary to allow Him to work in our lives. He does not want us to become distracted in the circumstances that surround us. He wants us to focus on His ability to provide us with the abundant life he wants us to live so richly. We must also be watchful in how we see His answers come in our lives and be prayerful in reverence in how we seek His answers. How or when God answers our prayers does not depend on a specific combination of words or saying exactly the right things at the exact precise time. All He wants is a humble and watchful heart that will be expecting an answer from Him. We never have to pry an answer from God. His response to us will be loving and compassionate. We may not necessarily like His answer for us but in time we will come to appreciate that He knows exactly what we need and when we need it, as w...

Matthew 14:23 After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. Later that night, He was there alone, (NIV) We have examples throughout Gods Word of ways we can pray and examples of ways that God showed His people how to address Him in prayer. First, we must be clean. Psalms 66: 18 states that “if I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear”. We need to ask forgiveness from God for our sins so that we may approach the throne of grace, clean before a holy God. Is there really any other way to be before Him? As for myself, I do not want to go before a holy God unclean. I want His cleansing of my heart as often as necessary so that I might not hinder His access to me. We all as believers want to be used by Him. In the verse for today we have the example of Christ going off away from the multitudes of people to get away and be at peace with the Father during a period of exhaustion. The crowds had left Him drained and tired, and His father ...

Isaiah 40:28 … …He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. (NIV) God never gets tired or weary of us coming to Him. He welcomes us with open arms and cherishes each moment that we desire to be with Him. He blesses us completely and encourages us through His Word to draw near Him.  We find it hard to comprehend God’s great love for us. We sense ourselves often as unlovable and unworthy of His attentions. Yet He pursues us with great intent and desire for us to respond to His love and grace, wanting that intimate relationship.  Key Thought: Knowing God has a journey so powerful and wonderful, how can we ever tell Him, no. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8) Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, help me to be attentive as You call me to a deeper relationship with You each time You call out to me. Help me to be always watchful. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN!!! Have a Blessed Day!!! In Christ, Ted Wilkins © 2026 Ted Wilkins

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom. (NLT) Time is a precious resource in our lives today. We need to make sure that we are spending that time in a way that produces the best end results.  I heard the other day about a man who never had enough time. At the end of every day there were still more things on his “to do” list than there was time left in the day to accomplish these tasks. Each day had its own set of interruptions. He very rarely got to his daily quiet time and daily devotionals along with his prayer lists. This left him feeling quite guilty and somewhat unfulfilled in spirit. Then he heard a Pastor read a verse in the book of Psalms. David stated that he rose early in the morning hours to spend time alone with God. So, this man made up his mind to try this and see how it would work. He really was not a morning person, but he would try it anyway. The next day he arose 30 minutes earlier and sat down to a cup of coffee and open...

Colossians 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything . (NASB) Through this verse we see Christ’s desire to become first place in everything. Not the few things in our lives that we offer to Him, but in EVERYTHING. Through all that Christ did for us on the Cross, alone, do we owe Him anything less than everything? God owns it all, but He will not make us mere puppets in this world. The greatest gift we can give our most holy God is to give back to Him His greatest creation, ourselves. We do this by accepting the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ on the Cross. Oftentimes after receiving Christ as our personal Savior, we sometimes begin to negotiate with God. The most common comment is “Oh, I didn’t realize that you wanted me to give up THAT part of my life too.” Let’s face it folks. He wants us to give our ALL to Him so that He may build us into His desires for our ...

  Hearing and Believing Acts 13: 7 …… Sergius Paulus, (was) an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the Word of God. (NIV) Sergius Paulus was the proconsul (a governor of the province).   He was an intelligent man. But from what we see here He sought Barnabas and Saul (Paul) to personally deliver the Word of God to Him. There was a drawing and a compelling nature about this call. It had purpose, and clarity was needed. We see the result later in verse 12 that after hearing Barnabas and Saul (Paul), he believed.  God prepares hearts and sends out the drawing through the Holy Spirit to do His will. The result…... Sergius Paulus got saved. Not just any man but an intelligent man, full of reasoning. I have heard remarks in the past from people who said that Jesus was only for the weak and unintelligent. We know as believers that that remark is dead wrong. God provides the way, and the Holy Spirit makes the call. We must be ready to...

Joshua 3:7 ……. as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. (NKJV) God guided Moses in deep and powerful ways. We see this quite evident during the Exodus of the Hebrew nation from Egypt. Negotiation after negotiation God was still there. God never offered empty threats, and the Egyptians suffered for Pharoah’s arrogance and false power in front of this man of God. God never at one time appeared weak. God already knew what Pharoah’s response would be. God is omniscient (all knowing) even the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). Pharoah was only a tough adversary in the eyes of man, Moses. But God had His hand on Moses. He has His hand on us as well in today’s world. Even after the final negotiation and Pharoah gave in, he later changed his mind and sent his armies after Moses and the fleeing Hebrew nation. What a devastating decision that was from the all-powerful Pharoah. We are in God’s hands, and He will guide us just like He did Moses and other past and present warrior...

3 John 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. (NIV) I remember when I was young, I wanted to be an astronaut like John Glenn. The more I read about him, the more I wanted to imitate him and his efforts to do that which no one else had accomplished. My Dad, R.O. Wilkins Jr., had a tremendous impact on my life. He would talk about great engineers occasionally. I was in my mid-teens at the time, and I was always inspired by the things Dad did for his work in Engineering. I eventually would follow in his footsteps in my career for many years. Dad did not always make the right choices in life, but his career in Engineering was rock solid and I followed him. He later accepted Christ as his Savior. I admired R.G. Letourneau who was a designer and builder of heavy earth moving equipment. He sold many of his patents to Caterpillar because he simply did not have the tim...

John 12:26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. (NKJV) Henry Blackaby once said, “Watch to see where God is working and join Him in His work.” Busy lives often cause us to become complacent in what God truly wants in our lives. Serving God does not pertain to just Pastors and Teachers of the Word of God. When we look around, we see God at work in many places, not just inside the church walls. We see Him in the co-worker who shares with others about what God has done in their lives. We see Him in the small group Bible Studies. We see him in many ministries around the world. Some folks go on short-term mission trips to fulfill a specific need in the field of missions. Let’s face it, all we need to do is look around and see where God is working and join Him there. He will guide you in this effort. Once, several years ago, a church had a fledgling Men’s Ministry. Th...

Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (KKJV) During this time in the proclamation of the Prophet Micah, he was calling the Israelites to return to tradition and more fully understand the animal blood sacrifices. Many had reduced the sacrifices by just going through the motions in their ways and means. They had fallen into complacency. The sacrifice was in place, but the heart was not. They had lost their heart in following what God had intended. They had stopped taking God seriously, and their fellowship with Him as well as fellow Israelites suffered for it. Distancing ourselves from God results in the same outcome. How does this apply to us today? Do we tell someone we are praying for them just to comfort them, or do we really take the time to honor their request? Do we just depend on the church services for our weekly spiritual feeding and encouragement, or do we read ...

Psalm 145:18 The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. (NV) Over the years I have overheard various individuals ask, “Is the Lord really listening when I call out to Him in prayer?” The first part of this verse says that He is near to all who call on Him, so we should call out to Him in expectation. I cannot help but think about Psalm 66:18 when I make this remark. Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; (NIV) When we have active sin in our lives, where we sin intentionally, we block God from listening to our cries out to Him. When we have “cherished” sin in our lives we are telling God that we love the sin more than we love Him. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. God will NOT take the back seat in your life. He, above all, knows what is best for us and wants to bless us with answers to our prayers. We must remember t...

Isaiah 58:9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ (NKJV) In the Old Testament God answered disobedience with famine and nature which would not produce. Herds of the rich and arrogant died away. But when Israel returned to God, He restored their land and herds. When they gave up their idols, God restored their hearts towards Him. Today’s verse reflects His return and desire to comfort those who had returned to worship Him in the ways He had called them to do. All God was asking for was obedience and unconditional love, but many had walked away on their own defying God. Upon their return, fellowship was restored. What happens when we take life in our own hands and move away from God? He moves into grace and mercy, drawing us back into fellowship with Him. D.L. Moody once said, “I keep short accounts with God.” In short, he did not let much time go by between sin and confession. That is great advice. Recognize failur...

Genesis 21:22  …….   God is with you in all that you do. (NKJV) When King Abimelech and the Chief Captain of his army Phichol encountered Abraham at the well they had a dispute over, even these two men recognized that God was with Abraham. Even though a conflict was involved, Abraham remained solid and reflected strength and courage in the process  (Joshua 1:9).  He did not waver. It was clearly evident that God was with him. When we encounter trials and tribulation in the presence of others, is God still evident in your life in the process? If not, we need to evaluate where we are and how this can be fixed. We need to reflect Christ in all we say and do. When things get tough or become hard, we do not need to shove Christ aside and handle it in our own way. That is a recipe for disaster. James 4:10 reflects how we should handle difficult situations in life.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (NKJV).  We sim...