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Transcript

Working Your Land · Men's Morning Devotional

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Gentlemen, every day is a battle.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A battle for your faith, your family, and your purpose.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: The men who stand strong don't prepare when the battle arrives.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: They prepare before it begins.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the men's morning devotional.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get into God's word.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to man up.
• 0:26
  Chris Alessi: All right, men, welcome back to the men's morning devotional.
• 0:29
  Chris Alessi: Yesterday we talked about being rooted, that hidden foundation that holds when a man's life hits hard.
• 0:36
  Chris Alessi: Today we're gonna go from the root to the routine because a rooted man still has to show up every day and do the work.
• 0:44
  Chris Alessi: And Solomon actually has something blunt in the book of Proverbs to say about a man who doesn't.
• 0:49
  Chris Alessi: So here's your man up moment for today.
• 0:53
  Chris Alessi: A man who chases fantasies is just a dreamer with good excuses.
• 0:58
  Chris Alessi: Proverbs 1211 says this whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.
• 1:07
  Chris Alessi: This is one of the most practical verses in all of Proverbs, and Solomon doesn't dress it up.
• 1:13
  Chris Alessi: Work your land, you eat.
• 1:15
  Chris Alessi: Chase worthless things, you go hungry.
• 1:18
  Chris Alessi: That's it.
• 1:19
  Chris Alessi: There's no nuance or complicated framework.
• 1:22
  Chris Alessi: The reward goes to the man who shows up and does the actual work in front of him.
• 1:27
  Chris Alessi: Does the actual work.
• 1:30
  Chris Alessi: But that phrase of working his land is important because in the original language, it's it's speaking very specifically to what the Lord has given him, his land, the work God specifically assigned to you, your family, your calling, your responsibilities and relationships.
• 1:49
  Chris Alessi: We know as men we can be enormously busy and yet never work our land.
• 1:54
  Chris Alessi: We can be hustling in 20 different areas, but they're not really ours.
• 1:59
  Chris Alessi: And we're neglecting the things that are.
• 2:02
  Chris Alessi: Solomon isn't calling us as men to more activity.
• 2:05
  Chris Alessi: He's calling us to the right activity.
• 2:08
  Chris Alessi: Then he describes the opposite of that type of man.
• 2:11
  Chris Alessi: He says it's a man who follows worthless pursuits.
• 2:15
  Chris Alessi: In the original language, that phrase carries the idea of chasing vapors, illusions, things that look substantial but have no weight to them.
• 2:24
  Chris Alessi: It describes an emptiness.
• 2:26
  Chris Alessi: And Solomon has a pretty sharp verdict here.
• 2:29
  Chris Alessi: He says that man lacks sense, not ambition or hustle or vision or even success.
• 2:36
  Chris Alessi: The basic practical wisdom to recognize what is real and what isn't, what will produce and what won't.
• 2:44
  Chris Alessi: Every man has a version of the worthless pursuit temptation.
• 2:48
  Chris Alessi: It might be the get rich quick scheme that keeps him from building the slow, steady thing, or the next idea instead of the last one that's already underway and not finished yet.
• 3:00
  Chris Alessi: The fantasy of a different life that keeps him from investing in the actual one he has.
• 3:06
  Chris Alessi: The endless scrolling and consuming that keeps him from creating and building.
• 3:12
  Chris Alessi: His land is right in front of him.
• 3:14
  Chris Alessi: It's right in front of you.
• 3:16
  Chris Alessi: The question is, will you work your land?
• 3:20
  Chris Alessi: Or will you chase fantasies, emptiness, and worthless pursuits?
• 3:26
  Chris Alessi: I remember stress being defined as what happens when a man ignores something he shouldn't.
• 3:33
  Chris Alessi: Maybe there's something at home or in your inner life that's stressing you out.
• 3:39
  Chris Alessi: You see, a man that is chasing fantasies will ignore it.
• 3:45
  Chris Alessi: But the righteous man, the rooted man that we talked about yesterday, the man that will get bread is the man who doesn't ignore what stresses him out, but faces it.
• 3:56
  Chris Alessi: So here's your man-up challenge for today as you work your land.
• 4:01
  Chris Alessi: Name it.
• 4:03
  Chris Alessi: Name your land.
• 4:05
  Chris Alessi: The specific responsibilities God has given you that deserve your best.
• 4:10
  Chris Alessi: Name them honestly.
• 4:12
  Chris Alessi: What worthless pursuit has been pulling your focus away from it?
• 4:16
  Chris Alessi: Make one concrete decision today to redirect that energy back to where it belongs.
• 4:22
  Chris Alessi: Let's pray.
• 4:23
  Chris Alessi: Lord, help us to see our land clearly, the work, the people, the responsibilities you've actually given us.
• 4:30
  Chris Alessi: Give us the sense to stop chasing what won't produce and the discipline to show up every day for what will.
• 4:37
  Chris Alessi: In Jesus' name, amen.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: All right, gentlemen, you've heard God's word.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now go live it.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Leave well.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Stand strong.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Honor God in everything you do.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Share this devotional with another brother.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, every day is another opportunity to man up.