By Gobel Brockman
In 1853 at a fancy restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York, it is said that Native American chef George Crum had a customer return his French Fries for being "too thick." His attempt to remedy the situation by slicing them thinner was also rejected. Frustrated and insulted, Crum decided to rile the guest by serving deep-fried, paper-thin potatoes that were too thin to be skewered by a fork. His plan backfired, as the customer loved his new creation. Not only did he love them, but soon other customers began ordering them as well.
And thus was born....the potato chip.
Go to a grocery store now and there are entire aisles devoted to nothing BUT potato chips. Sour Cream and Onion...BBQ...Cheddar Cheese...in bags...in cans...and you can dip them in salsa...or cheese...or French Onion dip...the list is endless. It's both funny and ironic to me that something that most of us enjoy on a regular basis was actually born out of a temper tantrum in a hot restaurant kitchen. Score one for 'artistic moodiness.'
But as I think of that story while munching on Mesquite BBQ Pringles, it causes me to ask myself - and you - this simple question: how do we react to criticism? How do we respond when someone tells us we're wrong about something? How do we react when told that we could be doing something better? You see, there's a simple truth that all of us know, but few of us remember: no one is right 100% of the time. Sometimes we are honestly mistaken, sometimes we were honestly misinformed, but sometimes we are just plain wrong. There are occasions when we may be performing a task and someone knows an easier or more effective way to do it. We may have opinions that are based on our limited knowledge, and someone else closer to the situation knows more than we do and tells us our error. In those times, how defensive do we get? How quickly do we dismiss the other person's thoughts without giving any consideration to what was actually said? Does our pride (and our temper) flare up noticeably at the first sign of correction? If so, may I remind us all:
No one is right 100% of the time.
The Bible says something interesting in Proverbs 27:5-6 - "Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." Hmmm. "It's better to have a friend 'wound' you with the truth than to have a stranger flatter you." It may not be pleasant, but it is true. We seem to be in an age today where no one wants to be confronted or to be told they're wrong. Well, the problem with having that mindset is that sometimes "our French Fries are too thick." We all need to hear the truth, regardless of how unpleasant it may be at the moment. I've seen people who get defensive at the drop of a hat, and in all honesty, I believe it's a sign of pride and immaturity. The Bible says in Hebrews that "No correction seems pleasant at the moment, but afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness." Simply put, when we are in the wrong, we can endure a little unpleasantness now, or a LOT later on. Being told you're wrong may hurt, but if it stops you from being wrong I consider that a good thing. So in those times, I suggest that we just take our medicine, learn from our mistakes, and move on.
You can wash it down with a potato chip.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
This Means War. The Song's In B Flat.
By Gobel Brockman
There's a story in II Chronicles that has long interested me. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah, and the Moabites, Ammonites, and Menuites had declared war against them. He immediately called the people of Judah into a time of prayer and fasting. During this time of prayer a prophet of God spoke and told them, "Do not be afraid, for the battle is not yours, but God's." Early the next morning the army of Judah marched out to meet the enemy. But what I find very interesting about this story is what Jehoshaphat did next: he ordered singers to go before the army to sing praise the Lord, singing, "Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures forever." The Bible says that as they did this, the enemy armies began attacking each other until they had completely annihilated themselves.
There are a couple of things that stand out to me in that story:
1) The power of worship and praise.
In John 4:24 Jesus said that "God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." In that passage the original Greek word for "worship" is proskyneo and refers to reverence, making obeisance, or honoring someone of superior rank. In that same passage Jesus said that the Father was seeking those who would worship Him in this way. It's one thing to be a 'believer' on Sunday mornings when it's church time, but quite another to be a 'worshipper' who makes the conscious decision to surrender every aspect of their life to His will, recognizing that truly worshipping means truly submitting. It's very easy to live for God when all is well; it's quite another to still worship God when you're surrounded by chaos. But what I can tell you is that there is a sustaining power in choosing to praise and worship God regardless of present circumstances. In my life I have had times of plenty and times of need. There have been times in my life when all was well, and times when my family and I have suffered painful loss. Through it all, good times and bad, the one thing that remains constant is that God deserves my worship and my praise. In times of blessing He deserves my thankfulness. In times of need and pain He deserves my faith and my trust that He has not forsaken me.
2) The danger of worship and praise.
It isn't lost on me what Jehoshaphat did in this story - he put the worshippers on the front line of the battle. Something you and I need to always remember is that worshipping God doesn't result in floating through life care-free with a Colgate grin plastered on our faces. When we choose to make praise and worship a lifestyle, we are entering into a battle. A fierce, constant, 'take-no-prisoners' fight that will end when our time on this earth does. The call to worship can be a dangerous place. Ephesians 6 talks about "the weapons of our warfare" for a reason. We will face opposition both in the natural realm and the spiritual. There are people who will stand against us, and spiritual forces that will do all they can to bring us down. The more we choose to worship God, the closer we will get to the front lines of battle. But here's the encouraging part: the people of Judah saw victory, and so will we. When a person makes the decision that they will praise God no matter what happens - even in the face of death - defeat cannot touch them. Even those who have been martyred for their faith through the years have known the ultimate victory with the faith that, "If I live I will worship God, and if I die I will see Him face to face. I win either way." You and I were created to worship God. We will never understand our reason for being on this earth until we understand that. We also need to understand that doing so enlists us in a life-long battle that will test the mind and try the will.
So, as an old Petra song says, "Get on your knees and fight like a man." And sing it like ya mean it.
There's a story in II Chronicles that has long interested me. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah, and the Moabites, Ammonites, and Menuites had declared war against them. He immediately called the people of Judah into a time of prayer and fasting. During this time of prayer a prophet of God spoke and told them, "Do not be afraid, for the battle is not yours, but God's." Early the next morning the army of Judah marched out to meet the enemy. But what I find very interesting about this story is what Jehoshaphat did next: he ordered singers to go before the army to sing praise the Lord, singing, "Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy endures forever." The Bible says that as they did this, the enemy armies began attacking each other until they had completely annihilated themselves.
There are a couple of things that stand out to me in that story:
1) The power of worship and praise.
In John 4:24 Jesus said that "God is a spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." In that passage the original Greek word for "worship" is proskyneo and refers to reverence, making obeisance, or honoring someone of superior rank. In that same passage Jesus said that the Father was seeking those who would worship Him in this way. It's one thing to be a 'believer' on Sunday mornings when it's church time, but quite another to be a 'worshipper' who makes the conscious decision to surrender every aspect of their life to His will, recognizing that truly worshipping means truly submitting. It's very easy to live for God when all is well; it's quite another to still worship God when you're surrounded by chaos. But what I can tell you is that there is a sustaining power in choosing to praise and worship God regardless of present circumstances. In my life I have had times of plenty and times of need. There have been times in my life when all was well, and times when my family and I have suffered painful loss. Through it all, good times and bad, the one thing that remains constant is that God deserves my worship and my praise. In times of blessing He deserves my thankfulness. In times of need and pain He deserves my faith and my trust that He has not forsaken me.
2) The danger of worship and praise.
It isn't lost on me what Jehoshaphat did in this story - he put the worshippers on the front line of the battle. Something you and I need to always remember is that worshipping God doesn't result in floating through life care-free with a Colgate grin plastered on our faces. When we choose to make praise and worship a lifestyle, we are entering into a battle. A fierce, constant, 'take-no-prisoners' fight that will end when our time on this earth does. The call to worship can be a dangerous place. Ephesians 6 talks about "the weapons of our warfare" for a reason. We will face opposition both in the natural realm and the spiritual. There are people who will stand against us, and spiritual forces that will do all they can to bring us down. The more we choose to worship God, the closer we will get to the front lines of battle. But here's the encouraging part: the people of Judah saw victory, and so will we. When a person makes the decision that they will praise God no matter what happens - even in the face of death - defeat cannot touch them. Even those who have been martyred for their faith through the years have known the ultimate victory with the faith that, "If I live I will worship God, and if I die I will see Him face to face. I win either way." You and I were created to worship God. We will never understand our reason for being on this earth until we understand that. We also need to understand that doing so enlists us in a life-long battle that will test the mind and try the will.
So, as an old Petra song says, "Get on your knees and fight like a man." And sing it like ya mean it.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Battling the "Yea, Hath God Said?" Battle
By Gobel Brockman
Let's take a jog down Memory Lane. (Oops, wait. I'm old and fat. Let's walk.) I want to go back to our childhood Sunday School class. The teacher stands before the class leading the children in a song, complete with hand gestures and excessive volume:
The foolish man built his house upon the sand, the foolish man built his house upon the sand....
The rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up....
(I'll bet your doing the hand motions in your head)
And the house on the sand went SMASH!!!
A simple childhood song with a complex, serious message - If anything is going to be built to last, it needs a solid foundation. It's true with houses, and it's true with faith. If our beliefs as Christians are going to stand the storms that are sure to come against us, we had better make sure it's founded on something that is "storm-tested." I've seen a lot of people over the years begin the Christian life, only to fall away. A huge reason for that is that their foundation wasn't very sturdy:
A faith that's based on "My parents were Christians, so I guess I am too."
A faith that's based on a temporary emotional response.
A faith that's based on the person "needing something from God."
The list is seemingly endless, but the result is the same - people who started out but didn't last. Their foundation was faulty, and the result was destruction. The Bible says in Psalms 11:3 "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" As Christians, the Bible talks about Jesus Christ being "the chief cornerstone" of our foundation. The song we started with is based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 7, and in that passage He said, "The one who hears My words (emphasis mine) and does them is like a man who built his house upon a rock." His words - a firm foundation indeed, and they are definitely "storm-tested." There is unlimited power in the Word of God, which is why the Devil launched an all-out attack against it. He knows that a person who knows, believes, and acts upon the words of Jesus is an unconquerable foe, which is why he battles it so much.
Go back to the Garden of Eden - what are the Devil's first recorded words? "Yea, hath God said...?" What was he doing? Casting doubt on God's word. The battle has been going on ever since. Unbelieving men have been trying for many, many years to destroy, discredit and defeat the Bible. People have been murdered for translating it, distributing it, and owning it. Yet it's still giving hope and guidance to those who choose to accept its truth. That truth always leads back to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is our hope, that is our faith, that is our foundation.
In writing this I'm reminded of a story of a new minister who came to his first pastorate. He graduated from a seminary that sadly had more regard for humanistic ideology than it did for Scripture. About a year after he began his tenure there a man from the church was admitted to the hospital. The Pastor went to visit him and noticed his Bible on the table. The Pastor asked if he could read some Scripture, and the patient agreed. He opened the Bible and was surprised at what he found: verses had been marked out, pages torn out, and even entire books were missing. He asked, "Have you no better Bible than this?" The man replied, "Sir, when you first came to our church I had a full Bible. But you told us a story in it was just an allegory, so I tore it out. You said others may or may not have been in some manuscripts so I marked them out. I think if I stayed under your ministry for another year my Bible would be two leather covers and nothing else."
Definitely a case of a foundation being destroyed.
What I'm saying to you this week is this: Jesus Christ is the true foundation of our faith. We learn and grow in our relationship with Him through the truth of the Bible. God's Word has stood the test of time - you can rely on it. Build on that and your house won't go SMASH!!!
Let's take a jog down Memory Lane. (Oops, wait. I'm old and fat. Let's walk.) I want to go back to our childhood Sunday School class. The teacher stands before the class leading the children in a song, complete with hand gestures and excessive volume:
The foolish man built his house upon the sand, the foolish man built his house upon the sand....
The rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up....
(I'll bet your doing the hand motions in your head)
And the house on the sand went SMASH!!!
A simple childhood song with a complex, serious message - If anything is going to be built to last, it needs a solid foundation. It's true with houses, and it's true with faith. If our beliefs as Christians are going to stand the storms that are sure to come against us, we had better make sure it's founded on something that is "storm-tested." I've seen a lot of people over the years begin the Christian life, only to fall away. A huge reason for that is that their foundation wasn't very sturdy:
A faith that's based on "My parents were Christians, so I guess I am too."
A faith that's based on a temporary emotional response.
A faith that's based on the person "needing something from God."
The list is seemingly endless, but the result is the same - people who started out but didn't last. Their foundation was faulty, and the result was destruction. The Bible says in Psalms 11:3 "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" As Christians, the Bible talks about Jesus Christ being "the chief cornerstone" of our foundation. The song we started with is based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 7, and in that passage He said, "The one who hears My words (emphasis mine) and does them is like a man who built his house upon a rock." His words - a firm foundation indeed, and they are definitely "storm-tested." There is unlimited power in the Word of God, which is why the Devil launched an all-out attack against it. He knows that a person who knows, believes, and acts upon the words of Jesus is an unconquerable foe, which is why he battles it so much.
Go back to the Garden of Eden - what are the Devil's first recorded words? "Yea, hath God said...?" What was he doing? Casting doubt on God's word. The battle has been going on ever since. Unbelieving men have been trying for many, many years to destroy, discredit and defeat the Bible. People have been murdered for translating it, distributing it, and owning it. Yet it's still giving hope and guidance to those who choose to accept its truth. That truth always leads back to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is our hope, that is our faith, that is our foundation.
In writing this I'm reminded of a story of a new minister who came to his first pastorate. He graduated from a seminary that sadly had more regard for humanistic ideology than it did for Scripture. About a year after he began his tenure there a man from the church was admitted to the hospital. The Pastor went to visit him and noticed his Bible on the table. The Pastor asked if he could read some Scripture, and the patient agreed. He opened the Bible and was surprised at what he found: verses had been marked out, pages torn out, and even entire books were missing. He asked, "Have you no better Bible than this?" The man replied, "Sir, when you first came to our church I had a full Bible. But you told us a story in it was just an allegory, so I tore it out. You said others may or may not have been in some manuscripts so I marked them out. I think if I stayed under your ministry for another year my Bible would be two leather covers and nothing else."
Definitely a case of a foundation being destroyed.
What I'm saying to you this week is this: Jesus Christ is the true foundation of our faith. We learn and grow in our relationship with Him through the truth of the Bible. God's Word has stood the test of time - you can rely on it. Build on that and your house won't go SMASH!!!
Sunday, July 6, 2014
I'll Just Take My Bible and Go Home Then....
By Gobel Brockman
There's an old story about a man who was travelling by train and had a stop in Tennessee. He had a few hours before his train was scheduled to depart, so he decided to take a walk through the quaint little town. He soon came across a small church that looked like every other church in America - until he saw the church sign above the front door. In huge letters the sign proclaimed the church's name:
The Left Foot Baptist Church
Needless to say the man's curiosity was aroused, and he began asking some of the locals about the church. They seemed all too happy to tell the story:
"There was a church in town that practiced the ordinance of foot washing. One night during a business meeting the subject was raised about which foot should be washed first. Those who thought the right foot should be washed first made their case, as did the other side. There was sharp disagreement on the subject that quickly escalated - so much so that the folks who thought the left foot should be washed first left the church, planted a new church, and named it in accordance to their strongly-held beliefs."
I'm glad to say that I've personally never seen a church dispute reach this level of stupidi...I mean, uh, disagreement. But church disagreements are nothing new. In the second chapter of the book of Acts the Holy Spirit filled the believers, giving them power and beginning the New Testament church. By Acts 6 there was disagreement about how widows were being cared for. We've seen it in the church ever since, sometimes bringing disrepute to the very message we believe. Why does this happen? Really, it's pretty simple: there are human beings there. As long as there are humans behind the pulpit and humans in the pews (or chairs these days) there are occasionally going to be problems. The God we serve is perfect; the people serving Him are not. Does that mean we should just avoid church, stay home and do our prayer and Bible study by ourselves, and otherwise avoid people as much as possible? I'll let the writer of the book of Hebrews answer that:
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
Can you get hurt in church? Yes. Have I been hurt in church? Yes. Have I hurt others in church? I'm sure I have. Have I ever sat through a service wondering if it would ever end? Of course. But rather than focus on all of that, I will tell you that what is immeasurably more important is that I have been incredibly blessed, encouraged, helped, taught the Scriptures, corrected, and grown closer to Jesus Christ because of what I've experienced in church. On January 7, 1981, I walked into a church in Edinburgh as a young man whose biggest concern in life was where his next beer, joint, or hit of LSD was coming from. I walked out that night a new creation in Jesus Christ. In the years that have followed I have seen some amazing things. I've seen alcoholics and drug users set free from their addictions, marriages restored, and hurting people encouraged, all inside the walls of a church. That makes the occasional problems pale in comparison. The Psalmist said, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the LORD'." That should be our mindset as well. There are people there who've experienced things we can learn from, and people there that can learn from our experiences. The Lone Ranger may have been a good TV show, but the Lone Ranger mentality makes for a very difficult journey when you're trying to walk by faith. Most of all, God has promised that when people meet in His name, He will be there, and it's always good to be where the Holy Spirit is present to touch people's lives.
See you at church. And for the record, I don't care which foot you wash first.
There's an old story about a man who was travelling by train and had a stop in Tennessee. He had a few hours before his train was scheduled to depart, so he decided to take a walk through the quaint little town. He soon came across a small church that looked like every other church in America - until he saw the church sign above the front door. In huge letters the sign proclaimed the church's name:
The Left Foot Baptist Church
Needless to say the man's curiosity was aroused, and he began asking some of the locals about the church. They seemed all too happy to tell the story:
"There was a church in town that practiced the ordinance of foot washing. One night during a business meeting the subject was raised about which foot should be washed first. Those who thought the right foot should be washed first made their case, as did the other side. There was sharp disagreement on the subject that quickly escalated - so much so that the folks who thought the left foot should be washed first left the church, planted a new church, and named it in accordance to their strongly-held beliefs."
I'm glad to say that I've personally never seen a church dispute reach this level of stupidi...I mean, uh, disagreement. But church disagreements are nothing new. In the second chapter of the book of Acts the Holy Spirit filled the believers, giving them power and beginning the New Testament church. By Acts 6 there was disagreement about how widows were being cared for. We've seen it in the church ever since, sometimes bringing disrepute to the very message we believe. Why does this happen? Really, it's pretty simple: there are human beings there. As long as there are humans behind the pulpit and humans in the pews (or chairs these days) there are occasionally going to be problems. The God we serve is perfect; the people serving Him are not. Does that mean we should just avoid church, stay home and do our prayer and Bible study by ourselves, and otherwise avoid people as much as possible? I'll let the writer of the book of Hebrews answer that:
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
Can you get hurt in church? Yes. Have I been hurt in church? Yes. Have I hurt others in church? I'm sure I have. Have I ever sat through a service wondering if it would ever end? Of course. But rather than focus on all of that, I will tell you that what is immeasurably more important is that I have been incredibly blessed, encouraged, helped, taught the Scriptures, corrected, and grown closer to Jesus Christ because of what I've experienced in church. On January 7, 1981, I walked into a church in Edinburgh as a young man whose biggest concern in life was where his next beer, joint, or hit of LSD was coming from. I walked out that night a new creation in Jesus Christ. In the years that have followed I have seen some amazing things. I've seen alcoholics and drug users set free from their addictions, marriages restored, and hurting people encouraged, all inside the walls of a church. That makes the occasional problems pale in comparison. The Psalmist said, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the LORD'." That should be our mindset as well. There are people there who've experienced things we can learn from, and people there that can learn from our experiences. The Lone Ranger may have been a good TV show, but the Lone Ranger mentality makes for a very difficult journey when you're trying to walk by faith. Most of all, God has promised that when people meet in His name, He will be there, and it's always good to be where the Holy Spirit is present to touch people's lives.
See you at church. And for the record, I don't care which foot you wash first.
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