ACCOUNTABILITY

 

PART l - ACCOUNTABILITY

I read a story this morning of an event that happened long ago in New York City. It concerned the public’s outrage and how their anger had been aroused against a brakeman that worked for the New York Central railroad. Because he failed to give the danger signal to the St. Louis express, twelve people lost their lives. The brakeman had been told to take a red lantern and wave down an approaching train, but instead of doing what he was told to do, he went inside the train depot and sat down by a fire to warm himself. As he heard the train pass by he asked someone what the noise was and was told that it was the passing train that he was supposed to have flagged down. Upon hearing that, the brakeman disappeared and was never found. The dashing train ran into the train that was sitting on the track and killed twelve people. The people of New York felt that he had neglected his responsibilities and charged him with a criminal act. As I read that story it reminded me of some verses in the book of Ezekiel chapter 3, especially verse 18 that says, “When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” Earlier on God had told Ezekiel to confront Israel about their sin and for him not to be fearful of what they may think or what they might say, but to simply tell them that they had better turn from their sin or they would surly die. He concluded in verse 18 by telling Ezekiel that if he did not tell them, then God would hold him personally accountable for their blood. Sometimes, it is very hard to tell folks you love let alone folks that you may not even know the truth about sin and the consequences of it. We often times will have a fear of sorts that rises up in us that keeps us from doing so. That fear may be, what others may think of us or of being rejected. It may be a fear that people may think we personally are judging them or possibly some other kind of fear. However, we are commanded to speak the truth in love, no matter the cost to us. If we have an eternal perspective toward the life of someone else how can we not be concerned for their eternal security? For God desires that no one perish but that all would come to salvation. Like the brakeman in the story I believe that many times over, we put the spiritual safety of others aside for our own personal comfort. The brakeman had a responsibility to warn that train and when he failed to do so it cost others their lives and he ended up paying a price that he did not want to pay.

Loving on you today,

Bren

PART ll - ACCOUNTABILITY

Continued from last week concerning being accountable the scriptures tells us that we are not only accountable for ourselves but for the well-being of others as well! One of the things that breaks my heart today is the testimony of those that claim to belong to God yet, their very words and behavior reflects that of what the Bible says is their father the devil. May I tell you in love that if you have a Facebook page and post sweet stories and pictures about God and verses from His Word and in the next breath curse someone and talk smack on your Facebook page, that your day of reckoning will come! Because God will hold us all accountable for our actions, not just those that belong to Him! We have a moral as well as a spiritual responsibility in how we act and treat others. It is not just a choice that we have, but an obligation to a direct command from God. He is not absent just because you may not hear or see Him. He is watching, listening and waiting and He is sending people into your life every day to help you see the Truth; and it is at each of those times and points that your free will to choose in how you will respond will matter! Sometimes when our burdens for others bear down on us, we are driven to warn and remind each other of how our society is rapidly changing and folks just do not seem to care! God told Ezekiel in chapter 3 verse 18, “When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” May I not stand before God with the blood stain from the fear of what people may have thought of me. But may my love to obey the God of my heart and life be far stronger than any fear of what man may say or think about me when I do speak up! We must be responsible to one another, for one day we will be held accountable if we were silent and we should have spoken up! While we will not be held accountable for the personal decision that every person must make about Christ, we will be held accountable for sharing the truth with them in love as God directs our heart to do! The brakeman in last week’s story was not responsible for the fact that the train was surly coming, he was however responsible for not warning them to stop!

 

Loving on you today,

Bren

WHAT IS YOUR LEGACY?

There will be times that many of us will encounter other people at work, in college, at school or at play who will make it their mission in life to demonstrate or try and discredit the Bible. They will do their best to put forth some sort of opinion on how the Bible is only a book of fairy tales or simply good stories. Some will even go as far as to picking out what they like and want to believe of it and leave the rest as possible myths and history. Have you ever encountered one of these? Are you ready for such encounters if you should? I Peter 3:15 instructs the child of God to be ready at all times to defend their faith and the hope that is in them, in gentleness and reverence. Those things are the core of every believer and they are what provides them with the authenticity and validation of their faith to others. We will all leave a legacy of our life and what we accomplished and how we impacted others by our choices and the way we lived. Those people around us every day are eyewitnesses of our faith and what motivated us to live the life we did and be the person we were. When thinking about these things I am reminded about I Peter 3:15-16, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

It is not the believer’s responsibility to prove someone wrong that may disagree with them, but solely to claim that which they know for themselves to be truth and leave it up to the Spirit of God to convict, reveal and draw people to Himself as He wins over their hearts. This safeguards the witnessing believer and takes the pressure off of them to be right or win the disagreement. It’s never about winning the battle, but it is always about winning the soul. Sometimes the greatest statement that we can make to others is how we endure the ridicule or slander that we may be subjected to. If you recall, Jesus Himself never retaliated. So sometimes, it is our very suffering that becomes our greatest witness to others. And when the time comes that I leave this world, the legacy I hope to leave behind me, will be that of love, compassion and that I had done what I could do to reach others with what I personally found to be the answer for the hope that I believed in, embraced and entrusted.

 

Loving on you,

Bren

ARE YOU WATCHING? ARE YOU READY?

The Body of Christ today is looking with an eager hope and expectation for a new era in soul winning. While the methods may be changing, we must work hard to insure that the gospel remain intact and allow nothing but truth to prevail.  There have been times when folks met under tents or on street corners to hear the gospel preached. They met in homes and buildings of all kinds simply to keep fellowship with other believes and be taught the Word of God. Today, the Church had better gear up and be ready for the influx of the widespread indifference to the claims of religion in this country. We had better know Who and what it is that we believe and be ready to defend it. It seems as though the Churched today are without compass, rudder or sail, accepting anything and rejecting nothing. We are in greater need than ever for a Spiritual awakening to take place. The lack of personal evangelism is at a great low.  Evangelism has and always will take more than those that surrender to the foreign field, pastor a church or even attend a Church’s Monday Night Visitation program. It takes a group effort to spread the gospel to the lost. Nothing will serve to promote an interest in evangelism more than to be reminded that as God’s children we have a task to spread the good news of Him who is our Redeemer and Lord to those that are searching. While we may not be able to reproduce the methods of the great soul winners before us, we share the same Spirit that convicts our own principles which underlie all true evangelism. Iron sharpens iron the Bible says, and nothing does me better, than to hear testimony of those that share the gospel; they are called Soul Winners and the Bible teaches that every child of God shares in that responsibility.

Sadly, the problem lies in a lack of concern for souls and the urgency and importance to soul win one on one. We need revival to restore in us what we seem to have lost. Recall with me in the scripture the story of Jesus being left behind in the temple, “Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."  "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. Luke 2. You see Mary did not understand it at the time, but as she began to ponder it, it became treasure to her. As children of God we may not always understand the things of God, but we must obey them as He ask us to. Jesus however did, even as a twelve year old boy. He understood and felt the urgency to do what He was called to do, no matter what. He understood because He was open to do the will of Him Who sent Him…..and that is what our task is as a child of God, to do that which we are called to do. Never, ever allow yourself to be comfortable or use to seeing men, women, boys and girls die without Christ! Are you doing your part? Are you making a difference for the Kingdom of God? Because it is coming… John 18:36. Jesus did not come primarily to establish the Church, but to purchase it. He told Peter that he and the disciples would do that. His main mission was to promote and manifest the Kingdom of God. He entered our world to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is close at hand in Mark 1:15, and called us to repentance and conversion in Luke 10:13-15; Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 13:1-5, 19:41-44, and to urge us to be watchful and ready for the Kingdom Luke 12:35-40; Matthew 25:1-13. Are you watching and are you ready?

Loving on you today!
Bren          

WHAT'S INSIDE YOU?

If people could look inside you, what would they see? Just skin and bone or someone with purpose? In the science world, the underlying premise of the human body is that; how you begin your life determines how you will end up; meaning that there is a common pattern within a person’s early childhood that will affect their health later in life. That can be the case of a child who is malnourished early in life and as a direct result have health issues later on and can even die from them. But what about a person’s behavior and the decisions that they make throughout their life? Is there no escape for the child who is raised around parents that live a life of drugs and crime. Are they bound by the decisions of their parents and their peers? What determines that? Well, I am no expert and personally, I don’t’ believe that there are any real experts on the subject. I base that opinion on the material that I have read, written by educated doctors, psychologist, counselors and many folk with well intentions yet, I have not been impressed with their conclusions. The reason that I feel this way is because of my own life’s experiences and the outcome of many people that I know personally who overcame the odds that the world’s intellects tell us, is the inevitable for the poor and afflicted ones. It breaks my heart that our society has no hope! Their excuse is that our jails are filled with men, women, boys and girls that are direct results of their upbringing and environment.

While environment does play a role, to say to our younger generation that you are hopeless because of where you come from is only giving them a free pass to turn out the exact way that they are expected to. While there is no doubt that our surroundings effect our attitudes and behaviors, we also have a free will to choose as to how we want to live. Sadly, the world looks at the ones who choose to do wrong and miss seeing the ones who have become overcomers having lived with those same obstacles. They are the ones who in their early years, lived in and through difficult and unbelievable circumstances, yet rose above them to live meaningful lives that contribute back to society in positive ways. They used their God given right called, their free will, wisely. It is that free will and no matter what anyone may have to say about it or the excuses that are used to cover it up, the bottom line is that we are all responsible for our actions and attitudes. Have you ever been on a job interview and was ask the question, “What do you believe your strengths and weakness are?” The world’s view is to never expose our weaknesses but instead simply disguise them as strengths. For instance we learn to say things like, “I am a perfectionist” or maybe something like “I have this stubborn drive” or even, “I struggle with my work and personal life to keep a balance, because I tend to work too much”, wondering all the time if we have impressed the one who is doing our interview with our worldly integrity.

Our jails are full of people who are making excuses and feel that they have been given a raw deal. Mankind may overlook our wrong doings and sin and make excuses for them. But God on the other hand does not! He does one of two things with them, He either forgives or punishes. But, we have to engage our free will by asking Him and choosing to come to Him on His terms or face the consequences. The good thing is that He longs for us to choose forgiveness and in doing so, we reap a life that is successful, productive, having hope that no matter what our background or circumstance has been, our future is sure. If we would spend more time today filling our body with the right stuff and getting back to the basics of the morality of the Bible, we would see a decline in crime, poverty and heartache and when people looked inside us, they would see, not us, but Christ the very living Word of God living in us. To the child of God, this is not an option!

 

Hold Fast,

Bren

WILL YOU BE CONQUERED TODAY?

 

Despite all your efforts, you just can’t seem to make the breakthrough. Your circumstances are mounting and you pray for some sunshine and God seems to only send your life, clouds full of incredible downpours of problems, one right after another. Your financial situation has gone from bad to worse. The news from your doctor is worse than you expected. The quarreling at home has become so constant that you or your mate are looking for a way out. It is at those moments when all the odds are against you and you think there is no way out. May I encourage you today my friend that, it is your very “thinking”, that has you captured by an emotional world wind and from your own thinking, you feel trapped with no escape in site! But the good news is, you can escape it. There is a way out. But first you must realize that your thinking at that moment is your worst enemy, especially when you’re thinking is not based on a trusting faith like that of King David, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me …” Psalm 138:7. His word teaches that Lord is concerned about everything that touches your life. You just have to get a new perspective and know that He is behind the scenes working things out even if you momentarily cannot see it.  

 

You see, God has not yet conquered something in you that may need to be conquered. There is a reason for what you are going through. It may be self-inflicted; brought on by personal wrong choices. God will work on your behalf, if you are striving to learn from your trial. If your pain is coming in the form of a teachable moment, then learn it quick and move through your situation. If your pain is coming because of the many wrong choices that you are making, then stop and turn around and start doing things God’s way. If your pain is brought on because of a righteous faithfulness for doing something you know is right, then bear it dear friend and remember that though He slay you, you must continue to serve Him. God is either calling you to Himself to be saved or He is using life’s trials and tribulations to teach you and draw you into a closer relationship with Him.

 

Your job is simple. You must determine which it is. Are you walking with God today, do you know Him personally or do you simply know about God. Guess what satan knows about God. Satan knows all about Jesus, yet he despises the Son of God. You must decide what you will do with the Son of God personally and once you decide, you must make every effort to allow Him to clean you up and rid your life of things that can and will lead you away from Him. His word tells us in Hebrews 12:6 and Proverbs 3:12 that if He has to use force and take you to the woodshed and dish out to you the disciplines of obedience, then He will, and if that discipline is in the form of or through daily problems remember this; it is for your good that He is trying to work out in you what the devil is trying to use, to make you angry at the One who loves you the most! The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. Psalm 34:17. Will you be conquered today?

 

Loving on you today,

Bren