Promised Land

In early 1975, Jimmy Carter, the ex-governor of Georgia, began campaigning in Iowa, the site of the first statewide contest in the race for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. Carter knew almost no one in the state, and his first piece of business was to introduce himself. He set up in a hotel suite in Des Moines with soft drinks, crackers and cheese. Then he waited. And waited. Thirty minutes, an hour, two hours, three hours. . . no one came to his reception, not a single person. Embarrassed but undeterred, Carter 50, and Jody Powell, his press secretary left the room and roamed the streets looking for voters. Anyone with a notebook or tape recorder sent them into exhilaration.
With a persistent attitude (sometimes that is what it takes), they took their cheese crackers and soft drinks and started stumping in the small towns of Iowa. One of the things that Carter told the people was this: “I will never lie to you.” When he said this, he noted a stirring in the small audiences. They perked up and began to pay attention to him. People were still stinging from the Watergate problems. The appeal of that single statement was the power that Jimmy Carter would ride into the Whitehouse. In retrospect, Jimmy Carter will never be considered a great president. In all probability, he was one of the most “common” presidents that the United States has had in the last century. He was a farmer who really was out of place with the political machine that runs this country.
Yet, in all of this there is one single aspect that should be found in this. When no one showed up at his hotel meeting in the early stages of his running for the Presidency, he refused to allow the obstacles to overwhelm him. He knew that he wanted to be President and was willing to make the necessary adjustments to become that man.

Whether you are running for the White House, or trying to influence others for Jesus Christ, or trying to live victoriously in this life over sin and temptation, or trying to reach lost men, or trying to cross a Jordan River at flood stage, one thing is for certain. That is, you must come to the edge of the obstacle and face it down and allow God to work with you and through you to accomplish His purpose.

There are critical hours in every life. Almost every experience has it’s share of calamities and turning points. There are single moments and actions that act as rudders and steer us in the direction of the goal or the direction of misfortune.

I am going into the Promised Land

The Promised Land of perpetual blessing.
The Promised Land of spiritual victory.
The Promised Land of divine power.
The Promised Land of God-centered focus.
The Promised Land of revival and restoration.
The Promised Land of healing and deliverance

FX In the Paper!

Brooksville church youth group wins awards at Bible competition

By Gail Hollenbeck, Times Correspondent
In Print: Saturday, May 2, 2009

BROOKSVILLE — Bolstered by first- and second-place wins in New Port Richey in February, 18 students from the Fire Xscape youth group at First Baptist Church traveled to Jacksonville last month to participate at the regional level in “Teens Involved,” a Bible-based ministry competition sponsored by Word of Life Bible Institute.

Thirteen of the teens came home with trophies.

“It was exciting, though I was nervous,” said Stephanie Harris, a junior at Hernando Christian Academy who was a member of one of the church’s quiz teams that took both first and fourth place in the Bible Blitz portion of the event. “It was fun to be a part of it.”

This was the second year the church entered the competition, which tests the students on their Bible knowledge and judges their ministry skills in categories that include preaching, teaching, drama, writing, singing and playing musical instruments.

Now, the winners from the regional level are preparing for the international competition, which will be July 15 on the Word of Life campus in Hudson, where last year six students from the church won trophies and scholarships to the institute.

Hernando High School junior Jen Brooks, who won trophies for her trumpet solo and vocal solo, said it’s hard work getting ready for the competition, but it’s well worth the effort.

“I really like to be able to use my talents for God,” she said. “When people ask why I play the trumpet, I like to tell them about God that way. It’s a form of ministry.”

For Harris, the preparation is an opportunity to refresh her knowledge of the Bible.

“You definitely learn a lot,” Harris said. “Being able to go over the lessons in God’s word again was really neat.”

Brian Brijbag, student ministry pastor at First Baptist, coaches the majority of the teens. His wife, Amy, assists with the drama events and the writing categories. Worship minister Mark Reeves assists with the instrumental and vocal categories.

While Brijbag is happy that the students win many of the events, he said the coaches want the teens to look at their abilities as a form of service.

“The whole time, we encouraged the students to not focus on winning but instead have fun and do the best with the gifts and talents God has given them,” he said. “They were not performing for judges but were serving their God.”

Brijbag, who is also chairman of the Hernando County Fine Arts Council, said that along with developing the students’ ministries, the competition also helps them develop artistic skills.

“We want a vibrant, growing youth program,” he said. “We want to encourage drama, singing, preaching and all the other gifts and talents to be used for God’s glory here at (the church) and out in the community.”

Trophies were awarded to students who finished in the top four in their respective categories in the regional competition.

David Seale was on the fourth-place quiz team. Kalene Parker was on the first-place quiz team and also won in the creative writing category for her short story, Kara’s Lesson.

Kaylee LaPlace and Kristy Madden were on the fourth-place quiz team and placed third in the video category. Timmy Carter was a member of the first-place quiz team. Niki Tucker was on the first-place team, placed third for her clarinet solo, Came to My Rescue, and placed fifth for her individual drama, Hands.

David Reeves finished second in evangelistic preaching and third for both his vocal solo and his video. Jen Brooks won for her trumpet solo, Sweet, Sweet Spirit, as well as for her vocal rendition of The Stand, by Hillsong.

Jackie Harris finished second in teaching children. Phillip Reeves finished third for his video. Rachel Reeves finished second for her vocal solo, Does Anybody Hear Here, was on the first-place quiz team and won for her piano solo. Stephanie Harris was on the fourth-place quiz team and won a trophy for her video.

Samuel Van Scoyoc, a senior at Hernando High, won a trophy for his preaching about “The Power of God’s Spirit” and took first place for his original poem, The Past.

The inspiration for his poem came to him after church one day.

“I’d been going through a lot of relational issues lately, and I was trying to let go of the past,” Van Scoyoc said. “I was praying so much to God to help me let go, and I sat at the computer and typed in the title, “The Past.” From there it was entirely God-led. He guides all my poems. That’s why I don’t have so many, because it’s always at the perfect time that he wants them done.”

Van Scoyoc said he’d like to win one of the scholarships to Word of Life that are awarded at the international competition.

“I just hope that God’s will would be done above all else,” he said.

Brooks said she just hopes that she is able to bless people with her music.

“That’s about it,” she said. “Just make God proud of me and bless other people with my ministry.”

Or the Highway.

Priorities.

 Some people have them…some people don’t. Some people claim to have them but don’t use them. Others don’t claim to have them but how they go about living their lives speaks volumes.

Rick Warren in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, started the book with these words, “It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”

It’s a matter of priority. I suppose that most people if asked would list their families, their career, their security, their education and so on in their top five. But when Paul wrote this letter to the congregation in Rome, a predominately Gentile crowd, he wanted them to know that God and his will for their lives should be ranked #1.

If we claim Christianity, then we walk according to the Spirit.
If we claim Christianity, then we accept God’s ability to do things we cannot do.
If we claim Christianity, then our #1 priority is to “set our minds” on things Spiritual.

Paul wrote that if we claim to be Christian, we cannot continue to live our lives as anything but. We can either walk through life focused on ourselves, our wants and supposed needs, or can we walk according to the Holy Spirit with God’s will in your sights.

Romans 8:1Romans 8:1
English: World English Bible - WEB
8 ¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

We really like this verse, don’t we! Time and time again I’ve heard people say “there is therefore now no condemnation…” but that is not the full message of that verse is it. There’s a priority statement which follows…the whole no condemnation thing is for those for walk according the Spirit.

Which way we walk, determines our priorities.

Anytime we put our will before God’s, we walk in the flesh.
Anytime we intentionally turn a deaf ear to God’s instruction, we walk in the flesh.
Anytime we seek to divide instead of unite, we walk in the flesh.
Anytime we think we’re better than someone else, we walk in the flesh.
Anytime we envy others, we walk in the flesh.
Anytime we hate…anytime we inappropriately use anger…anytime we become selfish…

When we spend more time with what our stuff, compared to time spent in God’s Word,in prayer, in worship and in praise…we walk in the flesh.

Paul wrote, “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son…” – Romans 8:3Romans 8:3
English: World English Bible - WEB
3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

While we were yet sinners, God still loved us enough to send a portion of himself.
And even when we become believers, God still loves us enough to give us His Spirit to lead, guide, and direct if we only listen.

If you want to feel God’s grace….
If you want to experience God’s mercy…
If you want to appreciate God’s love…
…then we need to set our priorities in line with the priorities of God.

We cannot do it by ourselves. Throughout human history, we have tried and failed.

We’ve eaten forbidden fruit, molded golden calves at the foot of mountains.

We’ve found ourselves in a foreign land conquered and captured.

We’ve heard the words of Jesus and still deny him before the rooster crows.

And while Jesus, John, and Mary stood at the foot of the cross, we huddled on the very outskirts afraid and bewildered.

After Jesus died, we couldn’t get up the nerve to take care of the body, so we sent the women down to take care of the body.

And when that body wasn’t there…we blamed thieves and soldiers…we huddled in a locked upper room…awaiting our Lord’s same fate.

But what we couldn’t handle, God could. When Jesus entered that room and told us, “Peace, be still!” it was then we knew what our priority must be. Even Thomas doubted no more.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of waiting in an upper room.

I don’t know about you, but I’m beginning to understand that this whole thing I am
experiencing is just a drop in the bucket compared to the joy that God has in store.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for God to accomplish what I’ve been unable (or maybe somewhat unwilling???) to accomplish!

It’s not our way that matters…we make decisions based on very little information compared to God’s vast knowledge. It’s that letting go and letting God theme revisited…

Once we’ve given up our way, God is waiting for us to see it his way.