Brother John's Blog for the Battered
Author: John Gray
The Contents of this special page is designed to help the spiritually wounded. Most of our Lord's ministry on earth
was filled with scenes of Him saying yes to wounded people. Yes, you can walk; yes, you can see; yes, you can live;
yes, you can be free; and yes, you can serve the Lord. Perhaps, you are one of the wounded. If so, we want you to
know that we care, not just in words only, but in our willingness to construct this website, so that we can, as our Lord
did, say Yes to the wounded. Additions to this blog will be posted periodically.
"The Sweetness of Accomplishment"
By John Gray
Text: (Proverbs 13:12, 19)
Introduction
a) In 1908 two doctors named Yerkes and Dodson preformed an experiment on depressed patients. They discovered that when people failed at personal goals on a frequent basis, that a stress chemical was sent throughout the metabolism causing depression and a feeling of hopelessness.However; when patients were able to accomplish goals, fulfill desires and achieve, a chemical of sweetness was sent throughout the metabolism resulting in an emotion of joy, purpose and hope. Three thousand years earlier, the third king of Israel discovered this same truth. His name was Solomon and he is the penman of the Proverbs text.
b) It is uncertain what Solomon actually had in mind in verses twelve and nineteen when he mentions, "the desire". For application purposes we will believe "the desire" is anything in our hearts and lives we earnestly " desire " to accomplish in our lifetimes.One must understand the Almighty is as interested in our personal growth as in our spiritual growth. If one prospers , they both prosper, if one suffers, they both suffer. The psalmist declared that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart; (Psalm 37:4). There is a reason for the repeated failures and also a remedy to succeed. We all have personal desires, goals, wishes and aspirations we want to achieve in our lives; we shall now look at a few suggestions on how to obtain those dreams.
c) In the findings of the two doctors, they entitled their article, " Finding the Brain’s Sweet Spot ". For once the brain’s sweet spot is discovered, accomplishment is certain.
I. Need Devotion
Devotion involves three main elements:
a) Devotion visualizes the completed task.
Regardless of one’s desire, the mind must see the desire accomplished. Visualization is simply allowing the thought of the desire to fast forward inwardly until the task is manifested outwardly. In Genesis, chapter 24:63, Isaac went into the field and meditated or inwardly visualized his soon to come bride. This was evidently a frequent practice of Isaac, a daily event that produced hope, anticipation and drive. In Genesis, chapter 37:7, Joseph in a dream or subconscious visualization saw his brother’s sheaves bowing to his. His minds eye saw it and it later occurred. No doubt while David heard Goliath’s challenge, day after day, he visualized himself slaying the enemy and accomplishing his desire.Very little is ever accomplished in the flesh that is not achieved in the mind first. If one cannot see themselves doing it, they most likely never will. Once the visual battle has been won, the accomplished desire is very near.
b) Devotion feels the emotion of victory
The accomplished desire is sweet to the soul or the emotional make-up of human-kind. One gets excited just thinking about that degree, trophy, marriage, healthy body or what ever your desire is. When you can feel positive energy about your completed desire it instills a brief celebration. For five years I attended a local Bible School. Every year I watched as the cap and gown graduates received their degrees. I would feel the excitement in my own soul, knowing that one day it would be me, and at the end of my studies; it came!
c) Devotion creates it’s own energy
Whatever your desire to accomplish will contain it’s own energy to do. Deer hunters have no problem rising very early in the morning to pursue their desire. Tell the crocodile hunter there’s a sale at Wal-mart and he won’t move, but tell him there’s a crocodile in the river near by and he has plenty of energy to tackle it. What you desire to do the most will serve as a continuous energy drink flowing through your system. Even though the cross was filled with pain and agony, it was the joy set before Jesus. ( Hebrews, 12:2) His love for humanity produced the needed energy to carry his cross to Calvary. The sweetness of accomplishment will be yours as well when you follow your devotion.
II. Need Discipline
Discipline is almost a curse word in our pleasure minded society, but discipline is required to enjoy the sweet fruits of accomplishment. If one has discipline, without devotion they will usually fail. However; devotion came first to spark discipline into action. The passion of devotion serves as a coach and mentor to discipline.
a) Discipline is self-motivated
Discipline works toward the desire when no one else is around. No priest, prophet or pastor to remind him to pray,
yet he prays three times daily. Some say Ted Williams was baseball’s greatest hitter ever, it is told by those who
knew him personally that he hit baseballs until his hands bled. Work toward your desire when no one pushes you
or even encourages you and the sweetness of it’s accomplishment will soon be yours.
b) Discipline improvises
Many excuses are made as to why we never accomplish our goals. If I had this tool or that piece of equipment then I would succeed. One must make do with what one has. Jesus used a rock, a boat, or a hillside to preach from. He
didn’t wait until he had a glass-stained pulpit. The lad, with the fish and loaves, didn’t have a combo from McDonalds or a steak from Longhorn’s; but Jesus used what he had. Improvise or you’ll never accomplish the desire.
c) Discipline is a daily student
Successful people do daily what failures only do occasionally. Most folk’s make a New Year’s resolution to read
their bible through or to lose weight or whatever, but after a few days or weeks, they fall back into their unsuccessful routine. In Acts 17:11, Paul commended the believers at Berea in that they searched the scriptures daily. Luke 9:23, Jesus taught the disciples to take up their cross daily for his name sake. Discipline to accomplish a personal desire is not a yearly, one or two time trial; but it is a consistent practice. No one will ever truly succeed at anything until it becomes their daily habit.
III. Need a defense
A defense is the best offence.
a) Know your strong points
Every person has a King and a fool inside them. Which one prevails is the one you nurture the most. Samson had
more potential than most any man alive in his day, yet he allowed the fool in him to expose his weak points; women.He died unfulfilled and miserable. Ruth on the other hand seemed doomed to failure; yet she encouraged the King in her and married Boaz and become part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.
b) Have a strategy
Strategy is insurance against failure. Put on the whole armor of God and plan your defense. In Luke 14:30, a man is mocked for not planning on how to complete his building desire. Develop your own strategy that fits and works for you. Job, unlike Samson made a covenant with his eyes not to look lustful upon a maid. He had some problems, but he lived out his allotted time with a strategy to avoid adultery. Those who accomplish their desires are those who plan to defend their God-given right to finish.
IV. Need determination
The determined never quit until the sweetness of accomplishment is theirs.
a) Determination involves faith
For 120 years Noah built the ark; determined to complete it. Jacob wrestles the angel of the Lord; determined to be
blessed. For 21 days Daniel prayed; determined to prevail. All these feats were accomplished by a strong faith and
a determination to succeed.
b) Determination Involves Focus
Broken focus is the greatest enemy of accomplishment. Horse trainers put blinders on race horses to avoid the focus being diverted. Jesus set his face like a flint going to Jerusalem for his last days of ministry before being crucified. Once focus is broken, you begin to go backwards in your desire.
c) Determination involves full-commitment
The same writer of the Proverb’s text say to do everything desirous to you, with all your might. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
The apostle Paul was beheaded for his preaching of Christ. While his head rolled on a Roman cell floor, the soldier
could not have helped but to think to himself, "This man was determined". When Jesus was on the cross, someone offered him a pain-killing drink, which He refused. No doubt the person must have thought he was fully committed to his desire. Unless there is full commitment to marriage, jobs, relationships or any other personal desire; the sweetness of accomplishment will escape them.
In Conclusion
Solomon knew much about reaching goals, accomplishing desires and finishing. He knew the aroma of sweetness
in his completed achievements. It took him seven years to complete the building of the temple and another thirteen years to finish building his own house, twenty years of building! He also wrote three thousand proverbs and oversaw the many personal desires of the kingdom. You too can enjoy the sweetness of accomplishment in your own life by applying biblical principles that work.
Don’t ever forget;
" If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done".
If A Beam Could Talk
Text: ( Luke 6:37-42)
Introduction
a) Jesus often used object lessons in his teachings to illustrate a point. This text as well as
Matthew's account are typically referred to as the beatitudes. They are nothing more than
moral principles for practical living.
b) The mote in the story is basically a small piece of straw or dry stubble in the eye.
c) The beam is a large stick or timber in the eye.
d) The thought is; if the beam could talk, what would it say?
I. I Rob You
a) Rob you of your victory
I steal your joy. ( Nehemiah 8:10)
I quench the Holy Ghost in you. ( 1st Thessalonians 5:19)
I destroy your fellowship with Christ. ( Psalm 16:11)
b) Rob you of your vision
Samson lost his vision with the beam of lust in his eyes. The elder brother lost his
vision with the beam of envy in his eyes. The apostle Paul lost his vision with John
Mark with the beam of impatience in his eyes. Without a vision, the people perish
and so will you. In John 9, the blind man received his vision when Jesus removed
the beam of doubt from his eyes.
c) I rob you of your virtue
The beam lover loses their integrity, their purity, and their forgiving spirit. Peter had
the beam of pride and criticized the other disciples. He ended up denying Christ three
times, losing his virtue temporarily. The beam must be removed for victory, vision and
virtue to excel in the believers life.
II. I Return to You
a) I return to your prayer life
( Matthew 5: 23-24) Restore thyself with the offended brother before praying. The
beam will block your prayers.
b) I return to your public life
(1st Corinthians 4:5) The Apostle Paul had to rebuke Peter in the public of the
Galatians because he had the beam of division in his eyes. What one harbors in
secret will eventually surface to the public.
c) I return to your promotion life
The beam stops progress. The beam halts promotions. One cannot prosper
with the beam in the eye. In Esther 7-8 Haman thought he was going to be
promoted in the kingdom, but much to his dismay, he was hanged on the
same gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The sentence was reversed.
When one sows criticism, fault finding and constant complaining toward others,
they reap a harvest of misery. We reap what we sow. (Galatians 6:7)
III. I Ruin You
a) I ruin your personal liberty
( Galatians 5:1) You will always be bound by the beam of bondage, chained to
the beam of rules and regulations. In John chapter 8, verses 32 and 36, Jesus
makes his people free! However the beam in the eye will keep them bound.
b) I darken your personal light
( Ephesians 5:8) The beam in your eye darkens your light to the lost. The beam
is Satan is a mind blinder to the unsaved. See II Corinthians 4:3-6. The believer,
full of light and devoid of eye beams, becomes a gospel translator in every walk
of life. See Acts 26:17-18.
Paragraph.
The Rich Young Ruler
Text: (Luke 18: 18-23)
Introduction
Jesus tells this story of a young man’s struggle with self-sufficient
personal pride. He describes the young man’s problems when proposed
with the choice of following Jesus or his way.
This account is also listed in Matthew 19: 16-30 and Mark 10: 17-31.
I. He Had A Gospel Problem
a) He desired a works gospel; (vs.18)
What can I do and get it over with! Our works to obtain salvation are
a disgrace to Calvary. Human works cannot ever merit salvation. “ Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy He saved
us.” (Titus 3:5)
b) He desired a worldly gospel; (vs. 21)
He claimed he had kept the law from his youth up. James claimed that
if one breaks even one law he is guilty of breaking all the law.
(James 2:10) The world’s gospel says, like the young ruler, “ Just
do the best you can.” The problem occurs when God is not satisfied
with our best but with his best; Christ! The ruler could not get his
focus off of himself and upon Christ; that’s why he left sorrowful.
II. He Had A Greed Problem; (vs. 22-23)
a) His greed kept him from selling out
Jesus pushed his button; part with your treasures. Many will miss
salvation clinging to perishable treasures. Nothing God owns is
obtainable by money.
b) His greed kept him from serving others
When Jesus said “follow me”, the ruler knew that meant serving him
and the twelve as well as any others. He was used to being served,
not doing the serving. When one has no salvation, one will not
work out their own salvation. (Ephesians 2:10) Salvation worked
in by Christ will serve out by gratitude.
III. He Had A Grace Problem; (vs. 22)
a) He refused to give inwardly
He had no worship, adoration, or inner giving toward Christ. His
heart was hard and would not release love’s passion. Grace breaks
up the heart’s fallow ground and drops in the seeds of tenderness
which causes one to give inward praise and thanksgiving.
b) He refused to give outwardly
The young ruler could not see why he should sell his treasures and
give to the poor, undeserving peasants around him. He did not have
an experience with grace and therefore could not extend grace. He
had made his way and the poor should make their own way, was his
attitude. Everything God controls is a giver. All nature gives of
it’s supply due to God’s control of it. Every believer who has been
given grace will automatically give back from their personal supply
of grace. Grace does not make giving optional, but expectant.
IV. He Had A God Problem
a) He had a problem with God’s terms
God’s terms for salvation and acceptance are the same to all.
Because he had material wealth did not give him a special set of
favored terms. Many have and will miss God’s salvation because of
a rejection of God’s terms: His beloved Son!
b) He had a problem with God’s timing
The gospel accounts would indicate that the ruler was a young man.
The Greek word for youth in verse 21 is nesois, which conveys the
picture of a young bird leaving the nest to strike out on his own.
He evidently had made a name for himself, lived a prosperous
lifestyle and seen no need in forfeiting it to follow Jesus the rest
of his life. How many will gamble their best days away in the hopes
of giving God the sunset years? God’s timing is always right.
(See Acts 24:25)
c) He’ll have a problem with God’s throne
He with all other grace rejecting, Christ denying, sinners will be
judged at God’s white throne. (Revelation 20: 11-15) Everyone
stands or falls with their master, (Romans 14:4) When Satan is
through with the sinner, there’s no place for them to go but to God
who cannot receive them, due to their unbelief in His Son. He spit
against Christ’s offer and it has returned to his own face in judgment
Those who will not bow to Christ in grace will be broken by God’s law.
Conclusion
God never saves a spectator, only submitters. If you are like the
young ruler and only spectating at Christ for salvation, forsake your
own carnal reasoning and sell out to him alone.
John Gray
1-16-09
