Archive for March, 2010
March 31, 2010 at 5:53 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #314: The Lord Inspires Teachers to Teach, Students to Listen and Learn
Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. Happy are all who wait patiently for Him. For you people will live on Zion in Jerusalem and will never cry again. He will show favor to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you. The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression, but your teachers will not hide themselves any longer. Your eyes will see your teachers and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.” Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth. Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures. The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork. Streams and watercourses will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall. The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the Lord bandages His people’s injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted. Isaiah 30:16-26
With all the talk about the problems in the classrooms in our public schools, and in our churches, the question arises about what makes a good teacher possible? I believe this passage provides an answer: when the people turn to the Lord and seek His ways again and patiently wait for His mercy and compassion the people are rewarded. The passage says then there comes a boldness and confidence that inspires the teachers to teach and the people to listen and learn the ways to walk. When we learn correctly from the inspiration of these teachers, the people (students) will turn from their selfish ways and consider their misdirected attitudes as obstacles to right living and learning. Then the people will trust in God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word, and their lives will become mutually fruitful. As Jesus spoke about in the Book of John (10:10) the people will experience an over-abundant life! There will be no darkness in the life of those who seek the understanding that the Lord has in store for His people. All our wounds that cripple us in our daily life will be healed so that we live life without pain and suffering.
Granted this is a wonderful picture of the ideal life, but it is a real possibility, if only the teachers would likewise teach with the Lord’s inspiration and the people (students) seek to learn under the same inspiration. Public school issues would be rectified, and finally function as they were designed. And, church Sunday School classes and Bible studies will realize their proper objectives, because the teachers will teach God’s Word rightly and without personal agendas, and the students will hear the Word fresh and new, as the Lord intended.
As a teacher in both the public schools and in the church, I can understand the need for the Lord’s inspiration in the classrooms, influencing both the teachers and the learners. When the teacher is confident and enters the classroom with a clear vision and purpose in mind that is approved by and inspired by the Lord, there exists real teaching taking place in the classroom. And, when the Lord leads and inspires the lessons that are presented the listeners will begin to set aside their selfish ways that interfere with right learning. When the people in the classes take the time to hear right teaching they will recognize their need for becoming right learners, because the reward is the Lord will bless such learners with the kind of life they desire.
Successful classrooms which allow for real education to exist starts with inspired teachers reaching out by faith to affect the lives of the students in their classes, and trusting that right teaching will ignite the desire to learn in the hearts and minds of the students that they have the responsibility to teach. How does a teacher know he or she has been successful – they make their role of teaching for those students obsolete, because the learners have learned how to become their own teachers?
Lord, inspire me and all my peers to be the teachers you desire us to be.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
So Jesus said again, “I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance. John 10: 7-10
March 30, 2010 at 5:49 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #313: Can You Say “Oops!“
Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever. They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not obey the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions. Get out of the way! Leave the pathway. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.” Therefore the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit, and have depended on them, this iniquity of yours will be like a spreading breach, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come very suddenly. Its collapse will be like the shattering of a potter’s jar, crushed to pieces, so that not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains— no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth or scoop water from a cistern.” For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing.” You say, “No! We will escape on horses”— therefore you will escape! — and, “We will ride on fast horses”— but those who pursue you will be faster. One thousand [will flee] at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will flee, until you alone remain like a [solitary] pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill. Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. Happy are all who wait patiently for Him. Isaiah 30: 8-18 (HCSB)
Wow, how many times have we invested our lives and fortunes on the wrong sources of security? How many times have we ignored the Lord’s instruction and His love and mercy? How many times have we sought out “wise” counselors – or should I say, those counselors who say what we want to hear, rather than genuine wise teachers of the truth? Isn’t it true we tend to seek out what pleases us, our minds, our hearts, and comforts our soul? However, just because it sounds good and seems to feel good, doesn’t make it right and good for us!
The Lord often uses trials and tribulations, times of testing to shape us and to strengthen our faith in Him. However, when we feel threatened we tend to look for the escape hatch or the exit door. When things get tough in our lives what do many of us say? Lord, leave me alone! If you were my God this would not be happening to me! Just because circumstances do not seem to be what you like them to be does not mean God is not involved in it and has a plan and purpose for the events occurring in your life.
A church went out in a pastor search to find a new pastor, and they found exactly what they wanted. They got a young, athletic, tan, sharp looking and gifted orator. He had a family to match with a pretty wife and two great daughters. The pastor’s gift was to weave tales from the pulpit with humor to draw the attention of the church members. He was mesmerizing and attractive for all the seemingly right reasons. However, behind the scenes this young pastor had an agenda of his own and was scheming to take total control of the church. By the time it was realized what was happening some of the core members had become his disciples and when confronted, a split in the church resulted. A breach in the walls of the church occurred just as Isaiah prophesied in this passage, and the church was crippled after the legal carnage.
Yet, like the passage also states: The Lord his care and counsel. The Lord desires to share His compassion and mercy. The church that was torn by selecting a pastor that “tickled their ears” learned a lesson, and is still looking for the Lord’s choice of pastor for the church. As the old adage says: “if it seems too good to be true, it likely is too good to be true!” Be leery and especially prayerful when you choose what you like to hear. Always make your decisions based upon God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word. Otherwise, you will be like that lonely, solitary soul standing on the mountaintop running scared from the consequences of your choices.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
Therefore, O man, everyone who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you really think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. Romans 2:1-5
March 29, 2010 at 5:46 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #312: God’s Way or Our Own Way: Choose Wisely!
Woe to the rebellious children! [This is] the Lord’s declaration. They carry out a plan, but not Mine, They make an alliance, but against My will, piling sin on top of sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow. But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your disgrace. For though his [Or Judah's] princes are at Zoan and his messengers reach as far as Hanes, everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can’t help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach. Isaiah 30:1-5 (HCSB)
Throughout the counsel of God’s Word, people are given a choice. God never forces anyone to follow Him. Of course, He does make it quite clear that there are consequences for all of our choices. In this case, the people of Judah seeing what had happened to their cousins and brothers in Samaria (the Northern Tribes) when Assyria had wiped them out and exiled the population, rather than consult with the Lord and call upon His promised protection, they considered to hedge their bet. They went to Egypt and set up an alliance with the former great kingdom. However, Egypt by this time in history had its own problems and was but a shadow of its former self. The Assyrians conquered and captured Egypt in quick dispatch leaving Judah now with no one to help them, and their pride exposed them to stand alone against the threat that was coming.
Are there times in our own lives when we fail to trust God, and we seek out help from other means? However, after making the alliance we learn that we are no better off. The Lord offers us a clear covenant that says He will never leave or forsake you in either the good or bad times. He is there to protect, provide, and preserve His people against anyone or anything, and He alone is the undefeated, unchallenged champion of all time! Yet, we just have a “faith” problem when there are threats in our lives. Sometimes we doubt our faith – our belief is no longer an active part of our life, and we need something more tangible and visible in our life to believe in. We ignore all the previous times He has cared for us in the tough times.
Yet, once again, like so many other times, we learn that what we believe is the best way is not the right way and we have to humbly get ourselves off the ground and seek God’s forgiveness for our ignorance and obstinacy. We need to admit our faith problem and expose our shame and reproach.
Churches call pastors and staff members based upon supposedly prayer and fasting, and there is overwhelming approval of the decision, but often once the new pastor goes to work power struggles and conflict occurs. The people want God’s chosen leader to lead according to their ways and for their purposes, not as God is leading the new pastor. Is that not the same issue? Many good and godly men have been exiled from their called profession by such attitudes, and churches have been left exposed to the selfish onslaught of those who seek their ways, not God’s ways in the church. Until hearts, minds, and souls are truly set upon seeking out God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word, the Lord will never be able to offer His loving approval or protection for that church body.
We may not understand or always agree with the Lord’s ways, but the problem is not God’s ways, but our ways. The question is who knows best, and who must surrender to whom to experience the right way to go? Think on it.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
March 26, 2010 at 5:52 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #311: Following Jesus Is Not Easy, But Worth It
Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down- those who with a word make a man out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice. Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale. When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.” Isaiah 29:19-24
In the life of Jesus we find that He demonstrated the reality that in life we will have to face and deal with ruthless people, those who rejoice in mocking others for their benefit and your expense, and those who wallow in their evil ways causing trouble for your life. There will be those who will blatantly lie to cause you to be at fault, just because they can scheme to deflect their wicked intentions upon others. Yet, in the midst of such harmful plots and schemes, like Jesus, we are to stand form in our faith and convictions, and not engage in their wickedness. This is when Jesus said we are to love our enemies and when struck on the cheek by such events, turn the other cheek.
In my experiences even in the church, there were times I experienced evil plots and contrived accusations just because I stood in the way of members in the church having their way, and they desired to promote their authority rather than relinquish it. Although they knew they were wrong they met in secret and made pacts with one another to make accusations that suited their needs, although they were based in lies. When confronted by these schemes and plots I knew I could defend myself, however I also stopped and checked myself. I asked what motives I would serve in challenging these members. Would I vindicate myself but cause a schism in the church where members would be forced to pick sides. Did I trust God enough like Jesus to stand tall in such a moment and allow God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word to be realized? I realized in the two similar situations that occurred that God had a plan for the church that was bigger than me, and that I had accomplished what God wanted me to accomplish. Rather than fight and win the battle and lose the war against what God desired, I left the decision to the church to decide. In both of these cases, the membership reluctantly chose to remain on the sidelines rather than stand up for what was the right thing to do. They valued their fellowship with those who plotted for control of the church more than a relatively new pastor who they claimed was called by God to lead their church. In both instances after I stepped down, many of the members came and asked why I did not stand up and challenge the lies and deceit, and all I could say is: “Why didn’t all of you stand up and challenge what was happening? Sometimes loyalty to others in our life is a stumbling block in doing the right thing, and that includes recognizing God’s will for the church and your personal life choices. And, had I stood to challenge the accusations, you would have been forced to take sides. Doing what seems right is not always being right in the eyes of the Lord. Ask Jesus!”
Sometimes we must allow the Lord to remain in control even when it means it appears the wicked and evil is in control of events. By faith we need to understand the Lord will reward the faithful through such difficult times, and the truth will be revealed. Jesus demonstrated this kind of faith in the Father, and we certainly should follow His example.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus responded to them, “My Father is still working, and I am working also.” This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill Him: not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus replied, ” I assure you: The Son is not able to do anything on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does these things in the same way. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He is doing, and He will show Him greater works than these so that you will be amazed. And just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to anyone He wants to. The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. John 5:16-23
March 23, 2010 at 5:54 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #310: Woe Those Who Preach and Teach Their Own Words
Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer. For the Lord has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to sleep; He has shut your eyes—the prophets, and covered your heads—the seers. For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.” And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, “I can’t read.” The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip–service —yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship [consists of] man–made rules learned [by rote] — therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden. Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord. [They do] their works in darkness, and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, “He doesn’t understand [what he’s doing]”? Isn’t [it true that] in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest? On that day the deaf will hear the words of a document, and out of a deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see. The humble will have joy after joy in the Lord, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 29:9-19 (HCSB)
Today there are so many issues about “religion”! What form of religion is the right religion? What religion is the source of truth to a world desiring to know the truth? Is there a religion that anyone can rely upon as the right way to understand this world and the Creator of the world? Well. Let’s consider first of all what religion is: Religion consists of man-made ideas, rules, laws, traditions and teachings about life and the world we live in and what lies beyond. Religion is like the analogy in the passage above – the clay is telling the potter what shape the potter is to make the clay.
God never desired His people to enter into a religion. God does not require pomp and circumstance to worship Him. God is not pleased by processions and possessions that are designated in religious ceremonies. The preparation the Lord calls for is the people’s hearts, minds and souls. The Lord is not the creator of religion and thus is not interested in the argument of what religion is the right religion. The Lord offers a relationship and only those in relationship with the Lord have the blessing of His revelation of what is truth. Even the ecclesia of the New Testament that Jesus spoke about is improperly named a church, which we today define as an organization, a structure made of men, by men, for the members. Today when we speak of a church we envision everything but what Jesus intended by the term ecclesia – which means “called out”. In essence, the “called out” are those who recognize and have placed their faith in the Lord and the relationship that He has intended for man. The church was never intended to be constructed with walls that separate His people from the world. The church was never intended to be an organization of men who establish rules, laws, teachings, and traditions that define what they are comfortable with. Man was never intended to define what worship is all about. If worship is directed to God, then it is God who must instruct man in how to please Him in worship, and that is plainly stated in His Word.
According to this passage, preachers and teachers who instruct according to ways of the church are at risk of man-made truths to please the people, but fall well-short of pleasing God, because the church organization has often failed to be the source of God’s will, God’s ways, God’s wisdom according to God’s Word.
Warning: God’s Word, God’s Truth is not like Wikipedia where everyone can add their own definition and understanding of the truth about various words. When that happens in the church where religion is the emphasis, the blind are instructing the blind, and the truths taught are deigned to please men, not God. The Word of God is not intended to please men, but to change the hearts, souls and minds of men.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it. Matt 10:34-39 (HCSB)
The SWORD of God is His Word shared boldly and in truth.
March 22, 2010 at 5:45 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #308: Proper Effort Always Results in Proper Results
Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say. Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed? Does he [continuously] break up and cultivate the soil? When he has leveled its surface, does he not then scatter cumin and sow black cumin? He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots, with spelt as their border. His God teaches him order; He instructs him. Certainly black cumin is not threshed with a threshing board, and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin. But black cumin is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. Bread grain is crushed, but is not threshed endlessly. Though the wheel of [the farmer’s] cart rumbles, his horses do not crush it. This also comes from the Lord of Hosts. He gives wonderful advice; He gives great wisdom. Isaiah 28:23-29 (HCSB)
God is not the author of chaos and confusion. In all things, there is a proper sequence needed to accomplish the results we desire in this world. Not all things we do are successfully accomplished in the same manner as we have done it before. There is also a proper sequence to be successful as well, and those steps are often different for the varied results that we desire in our life. So how do we know what to do and how along the journey in life? Isaiah testifies clearly that “This also comes from the Lord of Hosts. He gives wonderful advice; He gives great wisdom.”
Many times you will come across those people who plow their ways through life, constantly plowing but never planting or sowing, and thus chaos and confusion is all they create wherever they go. Their path is always evident and there is never any harvest from their efforts. However, there are those who also try to sow their seeds in unprepared ground as well and their harvest fails as a result of their hastiness and impatience. But, then there are those who take the proper, patient steps to clear the plot of land they intend to invest themselves. They remove the roots and rocks that may interfere with the production of the crop. They plow the field at the proper time to prepare the soil to receive the desired seed to produce the crop they seek to harvest. They watch over the field until the right time for the harvest is ready and then reap the harvest in the proper way at the proper time, being careful not to harm the crop. Then the crop is converted or milled into the proper, usable product that it was intended to become. The result is our lives are blessed and nourished, and the abundance can be shared with others.
Never rush the proper steps, patience and persistence to follow by faith produces the abundance the Lord promises when we follow His directions. Skip a step and rush the harvest and risk a poor harvest or even a failed crop altogether.
How do you plant? Do you understand how simple the Lord’s formula for success is? Proper effort always produces proper results! How do I know what to do and when? Seek daily God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word, and His instructions will be clear.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
“Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, this occurred: Some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it sprang up right away, since it didn’t have deep soil. When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it didn’t have a root, it withered. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it didn’t produce a crop. Still others fell on good ground and produced a crop that increased 30, 60, and 100 times [what was sown].” Then He said, “Anyone who has ears to hear should listen!” Mark 4:3-9 (HCSB)
March 19, 2010 at 5:37 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #307: Is Your Faith in the Cornerstone or Millstone?
Then the word of the Lord came to them: “Law after law, law after law, line after line, line after line, a little here, a little there,” so they go stumbling backwards, to be broken, trapped, and captured. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you mockers who rule this people in Jerusalem. For you said, “We have cut a deal with Death, and we have made an agreement with Sheol; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, it will not touch us, because we have made falsehood our refuge and have hidden behind treachery.” Therefore the Lord God said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable. And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level.” Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place. Your deal with Death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled. Every time it passes through, it will carry you away; it will pass through every morning—every day and every night. Only terror will cause you to understand the message. Isaiah 28:13-19 (HCSB)
In our lives there may come a period where we desire to believe we have all the answers and will seek alliances and deals that serve our specific interests and desires. When dreams become our passion we will even make deals that will have dire consequences upon our life, but we will run ahead anyway because we are only interested in satisfying our immediate desire. We will leave the future consequences to the future. Thus, many of us will mortgage our souls for a temporal opportunity to please our self. This may be buying the car we cannot afford, buy a house that is beyond our ability to pay for without affecting causing a strain on our financial future, or we borrowed to take that awesome vacation that we always wanted to take but could never afford. To please our inner self, we are often willing to mortgage ourselves and borrow beyond our means just to please the lust that is within us for momentary, temporal pleasure or to feed our pride so we can pretend to be what we are not!
Even churches tend to run into the same risk for the sake of pride. They bought into the theory that if you build it they will come and fill the seats. They believe that somehow that if they test God by mortgaging the future of the church’s ability to do the daily ministry work to build a bigger sanctuary or fellowship hall, somehow the Lord will bless the church by bringing more members who will give graciously to somehow help payoff the mortgage debt to prove their “step of faith.” However, in most cases what occurs is the debt continues to burden the church body and the budget is reduced from doing the real work of the church which is ministry (acts of kindness and generosity) and is captured and chained to its debt for a building that only glorifies the people who decided the church needed it. The result is the church leadership is constantly pushing for more faithful giving from the people in the church for a debt situation that they initiated. Sooner or later such constant pressure causes dissension and divisiveness in the church body, and people leave.
When we believe we can make a deal with the devil to promote the Kingdom of God we have certainly failed to understand God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word. We have chosen to twist things to suit our vision and not the Lord’s vision for our lives. As a result we find that our decision has chained us to a “millstone” rather than relied upon the strength of the “cornerstone” that the Lord has prepared for us. One lifts us up to new heights and the other crushes us under its weight. Which of the two will your life reveal you have connected your future?
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
For it stands in Scripture: Look! I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and valuable cornerstone, and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame! So the honor is for you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected—this One has become the cornerstone, and A stone that causes men to stumble, and a rock that trips them up. They stumble by disobeying the message; they were destined for this. 1 Peter 2:6-8 (HCSB)
March 18, 2010 at 5:45 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #306: Choices Have Consequences
On that day sing about a desirable vineyard: I, the Lord, watch over it; I water it regularly. I guard it night and day so that no one disturbs it. I am not angry, but if it produces thorns and briers for Me, I will fight against it, trample it, and burn it to the ground. Or let it take hold of My strength; let it make peace with Me—make peace with Me. In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bloom and fill the whole world with fruit. Isaiah 27:2-6 (HCSB)
God’s Word clearly declares a simple truth about life: Choices we make in life all have Consequences that affect our life. Every crossroad we approach forces us to carefully or haphazardly make a choice about what we should do. Sometimes the path is clear and we make the right choice, but often the choice is not as obvious, and many of our decisions create troublesome or difficult consequences as a result. However, no matter what decision we make, right or wrong, the Lord is with us trying to teach us and guide us to choices that please Him.
Now, the challenge in all this is this: if we willfully continue to make poor choices and become more of a troublesome “weed” in the vineyard that He desires to nurture then we will be at risk of being “trampled, burned and removed altogether” from His vineyard. The Lord confesses He will not get angry about our “thorny” decisions that risk the other fruitful plants in His vineyard, but He states clearly that for the good of the fruitful plants He will remove the “thorns and briers.”
If the Lord did this with Israel, and even went so far as to destroy the city that they built to glorify the Lord, how much more so will He deal with us? However, this is not a hopeless situation! The Lord’s purpose is to protect and preserve the vineyard, however He also leaves open the possibility of restoration beyond the judgment as well. In this passage in Isaiah’s testimony it is stated in verses 12-13:
On that day the Lord will thresh grain from the Euphrates River as far as the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites will be gathered one by one. On that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they will worship the Lord at Jerusalem on the holy mountain.
Those who have experienced a period in their life where they have felt exiled from the Lord’s covenant care can realize the joy of restoration. The Lord separated you from the others for the sake of the others, but He did not abandon you. He simply desires that you find Him by realizing your need of Him again. The Lord will call you back once you can see the fruitfulness of a life that seeks God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word each and every day. It is the only way you can walk through life with confidence when you arrive at those crossroads of decision. The difference now is that you do not have to make the choices alone, and with the Lord’s direction and guidance you will make better decisions that lead to rewarding and fruitful consequences.
What an awesome Lord we serve who patiently and passionately reveals His love for all of us, even when we look more like “thorns and briers” in His garden. Have you ever realized why Jesus wore a crown of thorns as the Romans spit upon Him? Think about it.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into headquarters and gathered the whole company around Him. They stripped Him and dressed Him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and placed a reed in His right hand. And they knelt down before Him and mocked Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they spit at Him, took the reed, and kept hitting Him on the head. When they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe, put His clothes on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him. Matt 27:27-31 (HCSB)
March 17, 2010 at 5:31 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #305: God Will Free Us from Our Monsters
On that day the Lord with His harsh, great, and strong sword, will bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent—Leviathan, the twisting serpent. He will slay the monster that is in the sea. Isaiah 27:1 (HCSB)
All of us have various sorts of monsters that lurk in our lives. We bring them forward in our lives from under our beds and from inside our closets in our bedrooms, or from the attic or basement of our house when we were young. There are the monsters that lurked in the dark woods after the sun went down. It is funny that as kids our monsters only existed in the darkness of the evening. The switch of a light always seemed to magically scare the monsters away and made us feel better. Of course, somehow we knew that the monsters were not there really, Right?
Then we grew up, but the monsters for many manifested themselves into something more real for many of us. They attached themselves to our lives somehow. Their presence in our lives is almost unshakable. And the fear we have about them is very real. These leviathans are real killers and they devour our emotions and our relationships. These leviathans lurk in the dark recesses of our very being. These monsters are brought to life whenever we allow our selfish lusts and desires to flourish. These monsters thirst and hunger for recognition, for recreation, and for riches. They are the vices that grip us and influence our lives as adults. We may call our monsters demons or devils or blame their existence on the master of darkness, Satan, himself, but truth be known, they lurk within us just like the monsters of our childhood – through our own imagination. Yet for some odd reason, we still cringe at the thought that they are real in our lives, and when they rear their heads in our lives we still look for the light switch to scare them away, but as adults these monsters thrive inside the darkness of our heart and soul. There is but one hope to rid ourselves of these monsters. We need a light source of truth and justice to pierce into our heart and soul to rid these monsters, and that can only come from our Creator.
The Lord promises to rid us of our monsters and leviathans or whatever creature lurks within us, but we must exercise faith and seek Him to enter into our heart and touch our very soul to realize the house cleaning only He can perform. The Lord is the original “Ghost Buster!” Have you trusted the Lord to light your life to remove the monsters that have haunted you long enough?
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: He Himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases. Matt 8:16-17 (HCSB)
March 16, 2010 at 5:36 am · Filed under FCA, First Baptist Ocala
Words of Wisdom #304: The Wicked Never See Judgment Coming
The path of the righteous is level; You clear a straight path for the righteous. Yes, Lord, we wait for You in the path of Your judgments. Our desire is for Your name and renown. I long for You in the night; yes, my spirit within me diligently seeks You, for when Your judgments are [in] the land, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. [But if] the wicked is shown favor, he does not learn righteousness. In a righteous land he acts unjustly and does not see the majesty of the Lord. Lord, Your hand is lifted up [to take action], but they do not see it. They will see [Your] zeal for [Your] people, and they will be put to shame. The fire for Your adversaries will consume them! Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our work for us. Lord, our God, other lords than You have ruled over us, but we remember Your name alone. The dead do not live; departed spirits do not rise up. Indeed, You have visited and destroyed them; You have wiped out all memory of them. You have added to the nation, Lord. You have added to the nation; You are honored. You have expanded all the borders of the land. Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For you will be covered with the morning dew, and the earth will bring forth the departed spirits. Go, my people, enter your rooms and close your doors behind you. Hide for a little while until the wrath has passed. For look, the Lord is coming from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal her slain. Isaiah 26:7-15, 19-21 (HCSB)
Simple reality that is revealed in the Bible: only those who know the Lord, know right from wrong according to the Lord’s righteous ways. The wicked make up their own ways and thus their own understanding of right and wrong. Thus, the wicked “sin” but are blinded by their own ways to the error of their ways. They also will not recognize the Lord and His presence in the land when He comes to fulfill His covenant promise to protect, preserve and provide for His people.
I have been in the church where there are people who attend church and find places of authority in the church because of their personality and selfish purpose. The church is an easy place to find positions of authority to assume. These people are here to worship the Lord but to fulfill their need to be important. Yet they often do not realize they are doing wrong, yet they are the ones who attend worship services but spend most of the service thinking about how they can make the church better to suit their vision and purpose. They are worshiping their presence in the church and not the Lord’s presence.
It is sad when you witness such people in the church, and often it is the pastor who stumbles across them, because there will be a power conflict among the church leadership that reveals them. The self-serving, blinded member will resist accepting the leadership of anyone, and will stir up resistance when they feel they might lose the authority they feel they deserve. It is a challenge and a threat to the pastor and the true servant-leaders of the church body, because conflict in the church is so destructive and divisive. However, the best defense is prayer and patience because the Lord promises He will remove the wicked from among us, or change their hearts. It is not our responsibility to do the Lord’s work.
I have learned the hard way that when we try to reveal and change the heart of the wicked person in the church, we assume the risk of the conflict that will follow. Trusting in the Lord to remove the person is the right thing to do, though we often find that equally as hard to do. However, seeking God’s will, God’s ways, and God’s wisdom according to God’s Word is not always easy, but is God’s desire for us to do: simply trust and obey, it is the only way.
Coach
www.coachbrown.org
“ I assure you: An hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted to the Son to have life in Himself. And He has granted Him the right to pass judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of judgment. “I can do nothing on My own. I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 5:25-30 (HCSB)
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