1. So Be Strong, Act Like a Man
1 Kings 2

2. How To Become a Man
Well my daddy left home when I was three And he didn't leave much to Ma and me Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze Now, I don't blame him 'cause he run and hid But the meanest thing that he ever did Was before he left, he went and named me "Sue" Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk It seems I had to fight my whole life through Some gal would giggle and I'd get red And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named "Sue"
And he said, "Son, this world is rough And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough And I know I wouldn't be there to help ya along So I give ya that name and I said goodbye I knew you'd have to get tough or die And it's the name that helped to make you strong" Yeah he said, "Now you just fought one hell of a fight And I know you hate me, and you got the right To kill me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do But ya ought to thank me, before I die For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye 'Cause I'm the s.o.b. that named you "Sue" Yeah what could I do, what could I do

3. Another Death-bed Scene

4. A Mixed Message?
So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses.
Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his grey head go down to the grave in peace.
You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his grey head down to the grave in blood.’

5. Why Abishag?
Ahithophel answered, ‘Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.’ So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. 2 Sam 16:20-22

6. Be Strong, Act Like a Man
So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.
So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.
So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried at his home out in the country.
Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and he died. The kingdom was now established in Solomon’s hands.

7. In Response to Terrorist Attacks
There is a cycle of violence here in which the role of successive governments is a central part. To destroy Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria by military intervention and not expect that these ruined and abandoned societies would spawn killers and provoke violent responses was always a policy blindness bordering on the perverse. And of course, UK military forces remain deployed in all these countries to this very day
Stop the War Coalition, counterfire.org

8. Mark Driscoll
Our identity is not in our joy, and our identity is not in our suffering. Our identity is in Christ, whether we have joy or are suffering.

9. My Pendulum Swing Take charge Get my way Do things right
Insist on the best
Knock people into line
Give up

10. What Will You Do With What God Gives You?
For all those who take the sword, by the sword will perish. Matt 26:52
Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 1 Tim 3:2-3

11. Be Strong, Act Like a Man