Troy A. Brewer's Blog, page 290
July 28, 2018
FOR HIS NAMESAKE
When I give a command, a great company publishes it. You are part of that company that promotes My goodness, My Great Name to the lost and dying. Tell them the Good News through a life of purpose. Represent Me well. You are My namesake.
FOR HIS NAMESAKE
If you’re going to carry the name of Jesus, that makes you His namesake. What is a namesake? A namesake is a person or thing that has the same name as another. Remember Genesis 17, my friends?
“As for me, this is my covenant with you’ You will be the father of name nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations“ – Genesis 17:4-5
He says, “I’m going to give you a name.” The first name He gives you is His name through His covenant or promise to be your Daddy. The second name is one nobody else knows but Him and the Father. The first one is a public identity, the second one is a secret identity.
What the Father is saying is, “Look, you’re My namesake.” So here’s the big question: Do people know you’re a Christian? Because they need to and here’s why: if you have a reputation as being a Christian, you have the power to bring honor to His Name.
You also have the power to bring it great shame.
If you’re known as a Christian and you’re so unstable that you cheat on your spouse, beat your kids, never have money, and you’re constantly being thrown out of one rental house after another, you don’t know how to speak or have to stay high, can I tell you something? That’s shameful for Jesus.
That’s the negative part of it. The positive part is this: The Lord understands you are His namesake. And He understands that people know you’re a Christian – that you represent Him. So, it’s pretty important to Him that things go well with you because you’re His namesake.
Look at Psalms 23. This is where David, who had huge victories and dramatic defeats in his life, says:
He restores my soul, He leads me in paths of righteousness for His namesake. – Psalms 23:3
That means He sets you up for victory. Why? Because you’re His namesake. When you look good, He looks good. He wants you to look good for the sake of His Name being advertised as loving and life-giving. Your life is His best, and sometimes His worst, advertisement. What are you broadcasting? Make sure it’s Good News!
FROM MY SERMON SERIES NEXT OF KIN
The post appeared first on Troy Brewer Ministries.
FROM DUST TO VICTORY
You are My special creation. I imagined you long before giving you form. I prepared great works for you to do in My Name long before you were born. Your time has come.
FROM DUST TO VICTORY
I love it when science confirms what the Bible says. Now, most scientists will tell you they don’t believe in the Bible and will twist and even deny what I’m about to tell you, but it’s the truth nonetheless.
Scientists tell us the human body is 70 percent water. They also tell us we need vitamins and minerals to live. Well, vitamins come from plants that grow in the dirt, and minerals, well, scientists tell us those are from dirt and rocks too. Without water, vitamins, and minerals, we shrivel up and die. Hmmm…
The Bible tells us we’re made from the dust, or clay, of the earth. If 70 percent of the earth is covered with water and the other 30 percent is dust, dirt, and rocks, and water and dirt make clay or mud, I’d say that is just about right.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. – Genesis 2:7
You were created from the earth that Jesus had dominion over from the very beginning. But owning a planet wasn’t God’s goal. It was the life on that planet He had plans for. You see, the most important piece of real estate Jesus wants to rule and reign in – that He wants to have dominion in – is within you.
If you will allow Jesus to have dominion over that piece of real estate, you will come back with Him and He gives you dominion over all the real estate in the universe. You and I rule and reign with Him.
That means we carry His Presence in us wherever we go. We are Kings in His Kingdom, and He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You are a king and you are a lord. To be a lord means you have possession over something.
This Lord and King has made you a lord and a king so that you’re not defeated. There are no victims in His Kingdom. In the Kingdom of Heaven, there are only victors. Give Him dominion over your life the way a potter has dominion over the clay. He gives it purpose.
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. – Isaiah 64:8
FROM MY SERMON SERIES JESUS UNVEILED
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July 26, 2018
DON’T GIVE UP. GET UP!
My word says I desire a Godly generation. This means I Am deeply invested in your success and the success of your children. Trust Me to bring you good things then work to bring Me a harvest in your family.
DON’T GIVE UP. GET UP!
When it comes to the harvest God expects from you, hear me on this: Do not partner with failure concerning your family. Amen.
Say, “No!” Out loud if necessary. Declare and decree, “I’m going to see His kingdom come concerning my life and those God wants me to steward.” Prophesy the Word of God over your family life.
So, what is God’s heart toward your kids, your finances, and your marriage?
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11
His heart for you good! I promise.
Remember a tactic is an action, supported by your strategy. If your objective is to gain employment, God will guide you. But the truth is folks, you have to actually go look for a job. Take action!
The enemy wants you to be an invalid, like the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda. When Jesus asked if he wanted to be healed, the man could have said, “Yes.” Instead, he missed the point.
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else does down ahead of me.” – John 5:7
Just like that, when it comes to your family life – your money, your marriage, your kids and extended family – the devil wants you paralyzed by fear and doubt so you give up and tell Jesus, “Well, the water never moved and even if it had, nobody could have thrown me in there. Lord, you handed me a sour life.”
Don’t allow him to pollute your thinking. Discover God’s word for your life. Speak His promises over your household. Fight for your finances and family. Don’t give up. Get up!
FROM MY SERMON SERIES LORD OF THE HARVEST
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July 25, 2018
WHO’S GOT YOUR BACK?
I Am a man of War. You are made in My image so you, too, were made to fight. Your battles are also My battles. I Am your banner. Call Me onto your battlefield. I’ve got your back.
WHO’S GOT YOUR BACK?
You’re a scrapper in the Promised Land. You have to fight in the Promised Land – you have to.
In the Promised Land, you fight a completely different fight than you did in the wilderness or even Egypt. If you’re going to be part of the select few who actually get to live in the Promised Land, there are three specific fights you have to fight.
You should be in the Promised Land taking walled cities, defeating evil kings and killing giants. These are the three battles you need to be constantly waging.
Walled cities, like Jericho, are strongholds in your life. These are ways of thinking – attitudes and opinions – that you believe in, but they definitely did not come from God.
Evil kings are things or people in your life who are not of God, and they want you to partner with them instead of God. It’s like making an alliance with an enemy to fight a common battle or reach a common goal. It always comes back to bite you.
Then there are the giants. Those things are straight up demonic intimidation. They are the things in your life that you fear, despite knowing they are exactly where you need to be or what you need to be doing. The giant wants you to stay out of his territory so he shouts, clangs his armor and flexes the biceps of doubt and defeat.
Know this: he isn’t so big or bad. Faith and action will take him down. That’s what worked for David and it will for you as well. He was a scrawny kid, but he knew who was backing him up. Do you know who’s got your back in the Promised Land? If you do, then sic ‘em!
Hence I have said to you, “You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. – Leviticus 20:24
FROM MY SERMON SERIES MILK AND HONEY
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July 24, 2018
THE CHOICE IS YOURS
I Am a faithful God. I expect you to grow in our relationship and to learn self-control. I will always be with you, but I will leave some choices up to you. Ask Me and I will lead you. Fall and I will pick you up and dust you off.
THE CHOICE IS YOURS
Praise God for your right choices, but know this: God Almighty knows if you are in a particular situation, you will fail. So, you need to pray all the time, “Lord Jesus, lead me not into temptation.” Does that mean God tempts us? No! God does not tempt us – ever. Check this out:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13
What it means is, “Keep me out of dangerous scenarios where you know I will fail.” Don’t we do that for our kids? A wise dad sets his kids up for success. A foolish dad sets his kids up for failure and, I promise you, we serve a wise Dad.
A good prayer is, “Lord, lead me. I’m willing to follow You. And see to it, Lord, that I don’t spin off into places where You know I’m going to bring great failure and shame into my life.”
God will not put us in places of temptation, but sometimes we put ourselves in situations we shouldn’t be in. If someone knows they have an issue with alcohol, maybe the local bar is not the best place to catch the game. So, when Joe calls and says the game is on at his house, make the choice to go there instead.
Celebrate that choice and enjoy some Texas sweet tea. We have a gift called free will. It isn’t always easy to choose wisely, almost never in fact. That is why we need to partner with the Holy Spirit and ask for His help. He is faithful.
FROM MY SERMON SERIES EXODUS
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FRUIT FROM A MESS
I Am a God of process, so your life is also a process. I enjoy watching you progress even in a mess. Moving forward is what you were made to do. See how I bless each step and bring fruit despite your failures?
FRUIT FROM A MESS
So, what do you do in any mess? You find out what God is saying concerning that thing. What is God telling you can actually happen in the midst of the mess and how do you sell out to make sure that thing happens?
This is about faith, hope, and love. Faith is hearing God speak about your mess. Hope is when you realize it can really happen and love is when you lay down your life to sell out for that end result. This applies really well to ministry.
There are three markers of ministry that Paul talks about: successful ministry, effective ministry, and fruitful ministry. First, don’t be so hard on yourself about places where you have not been successful.
God doesn’t expect you to be successful in all things. Just because you’re not successful doesn’t mean you can’t be impactful or effective. Just because things aren’t lining up the way you want them to, doesn’t mean the kingdom isn’t moving in and through you.
On top of being effective guys, we need to learn to be fruitful. There’s a brother by the name of Noah who was the most unsuccessful, boring, preacher the world has ever seen. The brother preached for 120 years, every single day and not one single person got saved. Think about that.
If you preached every day for even 10 years and never saw fruit, would you preach an eleventh year? That brother preached for a long time – 120 years. Noah didn’t see success, but we’re all here because Noah hung in there. He sold out and laid down his life.
That’s fruit from a mess. Jesus calls that success.
And now these three remain; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13
FROM MY SERMON SERIES FIRST THINGS
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July 23, 2018
FORWARD, EVEN FOREVER
Progression is My passion. Though I Am the same yesterday, today and forever, My Kingdom is not. I designed it to change, improve and upgrade – as do you. Choose to improve, to upgrade. There is no end to My Kingdom including you.
FORWARD, EVEN FOREVER
Since God is excited about your upgrade, you might as well line up your heart with His heart.
I have a rock star marriage. My wife loves me and I’m telling you, Leanna is smitten with me. She nearly faints every time I walk past her. She’s always fanning herself. But here’s the deal man: there are other levels the Lord has for us.
Our life is changing. We’re getting older and our kids are growing up. There are so many untapped, unclaimed upgrades for us and we’re going after them.
As a church, the church has never been as fun as it is right now. We’ve never made a bigger difference in the world. Still, we can’t say we’ve reached the ceiling, we’ve “been there, done that and here’s the T-shirt to prove it.”
When it comes to me, my marriage, family and this church, “Concerning His kingdom and of His peace, there shall be no end.”
“Well Pastor Troy, how come there are so many endings with so many Christians?” That’s a great question and the answer is simple: Because we decide we’ve gone far enough. It’s not because Jesus has decided we’ve gone far enough. We sit back down on the couch and say, “I’ve done enough. I’m retiring from this. Someone else can do it.”
Here’s the deal. The command from the Lord Jesus Christ is that we should be passionately and actively involved in things causing us to live life forward from where we’ve been – which is our history – to where we’re supposed to be – which is our destiny. Our destiny is greater than our history.
Are you there yet? Have you arrived at your destination? The answer is a resounding “No” if you didn’t wake up in heaven this morning. Don’t tap out. Claim your upgrade and line your heart up with Father’s. Move forward, even forever.
“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time f orward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” – Isaiah 9:7
FROM MY SERMON SERIES UPGRADE
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July 21, 2018
LIVING UP TO THE FAMILY NAME
I’m trusting you to live up to your destiny. That means you’ll live up to My Name. You are My child, My kin. Demonstrate the love I’ve shown you and you will never go wrong.
LIVING UP TO THE FAMILY NAME
One of the most misunderstood concepts in the Bible is taking the Lord’s name in vain. Cussing by using His name is plain old blasphemy. Taking His name in vain is much, much more serious.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that has taken his name in vain. – Exodus 20:7
It means we are responsible for demonstrating His name in a way that is life-giving because Jesus is life-giving. And speaking of giving us a life, Father God has given us each a destiny and it’s up to us to go after it. It’s like this…
“Troy, if I’m going to give you a church and I’m going to fill it up with people, it’s not going to be because of you. It’s going to be because of the name of Jesus. You better not rip those people off.”
“Hey, Troy. If people are going to show up because of how I’ve given you the name of Jesus, you had better demonstrate My heart. Do not take My name in vain.”
Taking the name of the Lord in vain means to come in His name with your own agenda instead of His agenda. It’s something I constantly have to be aware of and take stock of because it’s easy to fall into my own wants, ideas, and agenda.
There are tons of churches that have never cussed behind a pulpit but have taken the name of the Lord in vain in how they control people, rip people off, cuss and judge people, and just plain run them off.
Jesus loved. He protected and served. When He healed, the Bible says He “healed all because He had compassion on them.” Did He heal hands He knew were going to steal or enslave others? Did He open blind eyes that would lust after carnal things? We know He did.
And He did it because He was upholding the Father’s name that says, “Whatever your problem is, it’s not Me. I love you and I trust you with this healing, this blessing. Now, go and sin no more.” You and I should do the same. Fulfill your destiny by living up to the family name.
FROM MY SERMON SERIES NEXT OF KIN
The post appeared first on Troy Brewer Ministries.
BE SET FREE
I am a God who knew you before time began. As your Creator, I love you even when you make bad choices. Nothing will change that. Nothing you can do will make Me love you more or less. My love is unconditional and everlasting.
BE SET FREE
One of the reasons we see so many people saved in prison is because people get small when they’re locked up. Now, not everybody does, but some people get small in prison. It’s so important that you understand this principle.
A lot of prisoners change their agenda, hopes, and goals and they don’t know what to do. They just get small.
It’s in the context of getting still and small you’re able to hear the still, small voice of God. Every time He speaks to you, you’ll hear Him say, “I love you. I love you and you’re mine. I know it’s a hard world. I know you’re messed up, but I love you.”
In prison, you’re danged if you do, danged if you don’t. If you do fall in love with Jesus, you’ve got all the religious critics saying it’s just fake “jailhouse religion.” If you don’t get saved and transform your life they’ll think prison didn’t work for you.
Listen, the Body of Christ needs to celebrate any form of transformation any time anybody steps up to the plate and gives their heart to Jesus. Don’t judge that guy and wonder what their motives are. The only read we do this is because we think we’re so much better than other people.
I want to say, if it wasn’t for the grace of God, this brother right here would be wearing a white jumpsuit and hoping and praying somebody would come and talk to me about Jesus. And if it wasn’t for the grace of God – I don’t care what you think – you would also be in prison.
The heart is desperately wicked, who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9
Inside each one of us is a murderer – we slay people with words, looks and thoughts every day, admit it. It takes the grace of God to keep us from twisting off and following through on our thoughts. Grace. It’s worth celebrating, especially when a prisoner has been set free.
FROM MY SERMON SERIES EXODUS
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July 19, 2018
MUD OR WONDERFUL? IT’S YOUR CHOICE
I have given you My most precious possession – My Name. With it comes identity, legacy and a future. You are My child in whom I Am well pleased.
MUD OR WONDERFUL? IT’S YOUR CHOICE
My friends, our lives should look like the Bible. There are chapters before Jesus and chapters after Jesus. There is a complete change of identity between the two. What happened? A name is what happened.
There is honor and uniqueness to family name. When you give someone your name, you’re giving them all you have. When Leanna and I rescue boys and girls all around the world, we give them a birthday and a name – Brewer. They’re part of our family.
It’s a good sort of thing when you have a good name, it’s a terrible sort of thing when you have a bad name, like “his name is mud.” I’m sure you’ve heard that expression, but the story behind it isn’t as well known.
In 1865, Dr. Samuel Mudd gave medical help to John Wilkes Booth who broke his leg escaping after shooting President Abraham Lincoln. Now, President Lincoln was the 16th President, and the number 16 represents the love of God. What is the love of God? It’s when you lay down your life. Our 16th President had to lay down his life. Amen.
So, the guy who patched up John Wilkes Booth was arrested. Though the evidence against him was doubtful and the only “crime” he committed was being southern and helping somebody, they threw him into prison. He was tortured and his name was wrecked so bad, none of his family wanted the reputation of being kin.
That’s where the statement, “Your name is mud” comes from. His name was ruined.
President Andrew Johnson pardoned Dr. Mudd and released him from prison in 1869. His conviction was never expunged and although he was eventually welcomed home by his family and neighbors, the negative connotation still lives today.
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. – Proverbs 22:1
The Bible makes it clear that a good name is very important. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, King of Kings and Lord of Lords among other things. The Word says His name is Wonderful. Guess what? When we as “Christ-ians” take on the name of Christ (Anointed King), it is wonderful, indeed. It is our identity and one we need to uphold.
FROM MY SERMON SERIES NEXT OF KIN
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