The last word

In this week’s confession of a highly caffeinated Christian, I bring you the last sip from Fresh from the Brewer and I hope it’s good til the last drop. It’s the last column for the 9^th year of our latest century and I think it’s important to always finish well.

The Fat Lady Sings

Being the self professed weirdo that I am, I tend to pay attention to otherwise strange things. About ten years ago I started collecting the last words of famous fictional characters and paying attention to the last things said in my Favorite movies and books.

A river runs through it, ends like this, "I am haunted by waters." Tombstone: “Tom Mix wept.” John Wayne in True Grit: “Come and visit a fat old man sometime." Captain Ahab in Moby Dick: "Thus, I give up the spear!" Another Captain named James Tiberius Kirk of Star Trek Generations: "Well it was fun, …oh my." I bet some of you have some favorites too and you’re welcomed to send them to me.

That’s all folks

Then there are famous last words of real people; a very odd but delightful field of study in it’s very nature consists of nothing but conclusions. Despite the basic graveness, pardon the pun, of the situation people face at the moment of their death, there have been some who have decided to spring a joke in that final moment. Some of them really good ones.

King Louis the 14^th told his wife he regretted leaving her but at her age he expected to see her shortly again. Then he died before she could slap him.

William Palmer, a man convicted in 1920 of poisoning his friend was silent when they put the noose around his neck. The hangman instructed him to step up onto the trap door and Palmer asked, "Are you sure it’s safe?"

James Rodgers, a convicted murderer executed in 1960 in Nevada, was asked by the rifle squad commander if he had any last request. "Why yes...a bullet proof vest, please!”

Oscar Wilde, the famous writer, died November 30, 1900 saying, “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.” W.C. Fields, after falling to the floor and in terrible pain, calmed down, looked at the person trying to help him and said, "On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."

Douglas Fairbanks died in 1939. When he fell down someone asked him if he was Ok. "I never felt better," he said with his last breath.

Georges Jacques Danton was a French radical who, following the storming of the Bastille in 1789, became the acknowledged leader of the revolution. Eventually out-radicaled, by someone else, he was sentenced to death. When Danton was asked to place his neck in the guillotine, he gave his final instructions to the executioner. "Show my head to the people. It really is worth looking at.” Typically French I think.

The Curtains fall

One of my all time favorites are the last words of Wilson Mizner who died in 1933. Wilson Mizner was a U.S. writer, gambler and someone who put his trust in Jesus Christ at the very end of his life. On his deathbed, he briefly regained consciousness before dying and found a priest standing over him. Mizner waved the priest away saying, "Why should I talk to you? I've just been talking to your boss."

Many times the words that a Christian speaks as he faces eternity are a wonderful testimony.

Solomon foot, the senator and master of parliamentary law, died in his bed in 1866 with these last words. “What? Can this be death, has it come already? I see it, I see it! The gates are wide open it’s beautiful! It’s beautiful!"

William Tyndale, the famous reformer and martyr has an awesome testimony. The king of England hated him so much for daring to defy the church and print the bible in a common language for common people that he sent a scribe to write down Tyndale’s last words. It is said that the idea was to frame and hang up his enemy’s dying plea for mercy for all to read. Mere seconds before he died, Tyndale cried out with his last breath, "Lord, open the king of England’s eyes!" Hang that in your palace, king.

Robert Bruce, King of Scotland who lived from 1274 to 1329 said, "Now, God be with you, my dear children. I have breakfasted with you and shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ."

Last call

There are a lot of different ways we could end the last word for this year. But let me do so the same way the bible ends. There are 31,175 verses in the old King James and the very last verse is a great word and my personal prayer for you and yours. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Revelation 22:21

Jesus, Wal-Mart and Hannah Montana

A modern Christmas miracle story

A little girl named Angel stepped up to the microphone in kid’s church last year just before Christmas. She was the cutest kid ever. I remember thinking of “Betty Lou Who” from The Grinch that stole Christmas as she stood biting the sleeve on her dress. She mustered up all the courage she had to stand in front of the much bigger kids. Angel wanted to pray.

Now little Angel was especially poor, and unknown to her, we had already determined to sponsor her whole family for Christmas that year. So when she made her Christmas prayer request, Leanna and I were really listening.

“Thank you Jesus.”, She said through her little mouth. “I like Christmas and I also like Hanna Montana.”

At that, some of the wild bunch as I call them, which we bus in from the projects in Ft Worth, busted out into rude laughter. “Hannah Montana is gay!” One of the mean boys shouted. Another said something about hand grenades.

Angel, undaunted because she has several big brothers her self, just stood there with her eyes closed and her hands out like she expected a Hannah Montana shirt to fall from the ceiling.

“Boys! You will be respectful of miss angle’s prayer time and we never make fun of other people’s prayers. There is nothing wrong with Hanna Montana and besides”, I said as I picked Angel up, “Jesus thinks Angel is awesome and I happen to know she is one of His very favorites.” She agreed and we went on to the mayhem that tends to be modern children’s church these days.

Now the plan was of course to make sure that when we got all of her family their Christmas toys, Angel was loaded up with Hanna Montana stuff. It turns out, God being God, had a much greater plan as He so often does.

Besides leading at Open Door Ministries I also have the privledge of running a food bank and sometimes we get calls from big distribution centers. Unsolicited, the good people at Wal-Mart donated a truck load of goodies but we wouldn’t know what we were receiving until it got to the warehouse. When Andy Daly opened up the back doors of that big truck, we all began to laugh our heads off. Angel had prayed in an eighteen wheeler of Hannah Montana clothes! Everything Hannah Montana you can imagine and all brand new. It was amazing.

Now I know that Christmas isn’t about getting toys so save your religious letters for a pharasee that has time to read it. But know for certain, that God uses giving to demonstrate his goodness towards us. In the Kingdom, giving is a ministry. For God so loved the world He gave, and I hope you know how to finish the rest of that sentence.

Last week we were able to host 100 local families in Christmas giving and emergency help. This week we are in Brownsville Texas and Matomoros Mexico giving away more than 3000 backpacks stuffed full of the best toys we’ve ever been able to give away. We do that to demonstrate God as the greatest giver of all.

2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Reach the Brewer and find out more at www.frewshfromthebrewer.com, www.troybrewer.com & www.opendoorministries.org

The Hotel Upgrade

Being a bonafied world traveler, I have stayed in some amazing places. I have traveled much doing ministry, business, conferences, and vacations, so my motto of “Blessed are the Flexible” gets a lot of mileage when on the road.

I traveled throughout the USA in the late eighties with a band called Destiny and we stayed in every kind of motel you can imagine. We even slept in the back of our trucks at a state park near Nashville. Since then, I have slept in hammocks in southern Mexico. I battled spiders by candlelight in a hotel in Rwanda. Stayed in a room at a motel in East Africa where they guy behind the desk promised a room with a view. When I got there, I found it had no door-hence, the view. I have also stayed in grass huts in India and one time, my friends literally ran a cobra out of the room just before I got there.

Where Fashion sits…
Now before you go to thinking I am Indiana Jones, let me tell you I have also stayed in some truly swanky joints. I love nice hotels. Ten years ago Leanna and I spent four days at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. We were even on the club level and had to have a James Bond key to get to the tenth floor.

Do you know they have a bath menu there? Sure -would you like rose pedals and oil in your water, M’am? As my Grandfather used to say, “well woop-te-doo”. He also said “la-te-da” but I don’t really know what that means.

I embarrassed poor Leanna on that same trip when a surgeon asked me what kind of business I was in. I told him I was a mule for the Columbian drug cartel and he left me alone after that.

I have also stayed at the Luxor in Vegas, the Sheridan in Jerusalem, and the Crown Plaza in New Deli. The Hilton in San Antonio was awesome with a view of the Alamo from my bed. The Horse Shoe or Herra Dura Hotel in San Jose ,Costa Rica, used to be a frequent stop for me because a friend of mine worked there and all we had to pay was taxes. It had a nice Jacuzzi in the room and I wore it out every chance I got.

A company I used to work for sent me to the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street and the PGA resort in Florida. I didn’t drink or golf so I toured New Orleans and went to the Jai-alai games. A super nice room and one which was probably bugged by the communists, was the Hotel Miramar in Havana Cuba. It overlooks the Gulf of Mexico and the Russian Embassy. Of course the commies at the Russian Embassy help overlook the good people of Cuba too.

The Austonian Hotel is going up in the states capital and I’v got plans to spend the night there some day. So suffice it to say, I love a good hotel.

Local Flavor
Today I stopped to eat at the Caddo Grill in downtown Cleburne. We had a nice lunch and when I stepped out, I saw the newly refurbished Liberty Hotel sharing the same parking lot. I know that Hotel because 12 years ago I hosted a food outreach right there when it was the parking lot of Piggly Wiggly. At that time, the historic Liberty had fallen to a decimated shooting gallery occupied with drug dealers, transients and prostitutes.

We went into that building taking groceries from door to door and inviting people outside to the things we were doing. I could not believe anything that bad was in Johnson County. It looked like something from Queens, New York.

The message I preached out there in that parking lot was that God makes all things brand new. There were more than a thousand people who came for help that day and about 80 of them were from the Liberty Hotel.

Twelve years later that message proved to be prophetic. That whole area has been reborn and the Liberty Hotel is one of the finest in the county. I took a tour of the rooms today and was blown away at what they have done with the place. The quality and attention to detail was just wonderful. It is really something to see and is not even recognizable from the mess it once was.

I close this week’s Fresh from the Brewer by saying, I hope the same can be said of all of us. May each of us upgrade and be transformed from ruined wrecks into shining examples. May Jesus Christ change us and present us the way whoever paid the price for the Liberty Hotel did. He has a way of making that happen like nobody else.

Even the name Liberty speaks of Jesus I think. The bible says where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” Revelation 21:5

You can read more about the Brewer at www.troybrewer.com. He pastors Open Door Ministries church near Joshua. www.opendoorministries.org

The Legend of Scaredy Squirrel

I have been at war with the hated tree rat population for some time, you might call them squirrels. Often portrayed as cute and smart by Nazi propagandists, they are actually satanic hedonists who get in my attic and party like its 1999. They destroy my bird-feeders and run off my ---well every kind of bird you can imagine. They nearly caused me to burn my own house down about 15 years ago when I decided to fire off some firecrackers in the attic to run them out. Did you catch the word fire in fire cracker? Yes, I did too.

Anyway my passionate desire to eliminate the region of squirrels is just as fervent as my love for a book about a squirrel. Its an illustrated children’s book I like to read to the munchkins around here called Scaredy Squirrel.

Scaredy Squirrel is a squirrel who refuses to leave his own tree because he is phobic about spiders, germs, poison Ivy, sharks and killer bees. He spends his life atop a tree called familiar, on a place called safe. then one day a bee gets too close to comfort and Scaredy falls out. But before he hits the ground, Scaredy Squirrel discovers he is no ordinary tree rat, he is a flying squirrel!

Ain’t Skeered

Last week I was hunting deer on the famous Burk Ranch near Eagle Pass and I thought about Scaredy Squirrel. This trip was a dream for me and it could have been ruined by my ever present fear of heights. The cold front came through and not only was the blind some thirty feet straight up, the little ladder I had to ascend was covered in Ice. While I am sure there was nothing graceful about how I got up there and into the blind, it was powerful for me. I prayed harder than I have in a long time and about an hour later I blasted a trophy ten point and enough does to feed folks at my next outreach.

God wants you and me to conquer fear. If we are full of fear we are not full of passion. If we are not full of passion then we are not full of life. I think it breaks God’s heart when we stay in familiar, safe places bound by invisible chains of fear.

A long long time ago a prophet named Zephaniah promised Israel of a day of restoration would God would not only remove their fear, but put strength in their hands. We don’t use the term slack hand today, but we do use the term limp wrist. It’s associated with the idea of being a weakling or a pansy. When we let God take away our fear he also takes away the thing that keeps us from having zeal and passion for life.

Get out of your tree or into your stand which ever the case may be. None of us are going to be here for very much longer, and we just don’t have time to be bored.

Zephaniah 3:16 in that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

The Brewer Pastors Open Door Ministries near Joshua and can be found at www.freshfromthebrewer.com andwww.troybrewer.com

Bad Press

Back in the day, I used to be a huge fan of Stephen King. The first book I read of his, The Stand, was then and still is to me his best book ever. I wasn't a huge fan of horror, I just loved how great his stories were. The way he wrote intrigued me and it was training for a young man that would soon be a Bible thumper and somewhat of a writer myself.

After 1986 I encountered The Lord and 86st Stephen King for the King of Kings. I suddenly began to notice Kings hateful agenda against Christians in general. The mom in Carrie is a Pentecostal nut who locks her daughter in the closet to pray. The murderous warden in Shawshank Redemption quotes scriptures and even the werewolf in Silver Bullet is a preacher. John Coffee in the green mile is an excellent character type of Jesus and even has the initials of JC, but of course he’s not very smart and unable to articulate really anything. The crazy lady in Misery hobbles the feet of a poor guy while wearing a giant crucifix.

So it makes me ask, what's your deal, pickle?

I don’t think for one second you go to hell for reading Stephen King or watching his movies, but because I’m a Christian, going to hell is never an issue for me anyway. I just can’t imagine how it is helpful or profitable to partner my head with a guy who doesn't partner with me in and what my life is all about. I know he is a great writer and an important part of our culture but I ask myself a question I already know the answer to. If you or I wrote 20 or 30 brilliant books, and year after year the hideous villain in all our novels was a homosexual or a Muslim, would we be praised as great writers and contributors to the culture? Stephen King lives in a world where He consistently gets away with what he accuses Christians of doing in all of his novels. He’s a zealot who portrays good people as bad guys because of his own self centered ideology. The Texan in me says “Rain on him.”

Foggy Identities

It’s not uncommon to have the tube glowing in the Brewer house and a few months back I stopped in the living room to see what my son was all balled up on the couch about.

“What ya watching?” I asked as he handed me the chips

“It’s a scary movie called The Mist, dad. These awesome giant bugs are eating people.”

I sat down on the couch and before I got to the bottom of my ruffles with ridges, I knew who had made it.

“This is a Stephen King Movie, isn't it?’’

“Yes sir, how’d you know?”

“Because the only monster worse than the bugs is the Christian who hates abortion.”

The Crazy Christian converts the locals into murderers and the good guys shoot themselves in the head just seconds before help from the army arrives. Now that’s entertainment. I haven't had so much fun since my visit to the doctor right after my 40th birthday.

I am a big movie fan like any red blooded American, but I get sick of how Hollywood’s hatred of people like me is constantly spilled out under the guise of art.

If you are a Christian, I want to encourage you to not limit yourself to any subculture. You and I are the counter culture and America needs us more than ever. These knuckleheads publicly mock us but privately call us when all hell brakes loose. These bullies collectively accuse us but individually need us to be the people that stand out these days.

Don’t worry about the bad press you get. It puts you in really good company. Don’t you back off for one second. Let your light shine! Make a difference in people’s lives. Hate injustice and what isn't right. Call it like it is and stand for Jesus while standing with the rest of us. Lets stand up together in spite of all the bad press. While there might be multidimensional bugs in their mist, Jesus Himself promises to be in our midst if we all stick together.

For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of you. Matthew 18:20

Read more about and from the Brewer atwww.TroyBrewer.com andwww.freshfromthebrewer.com

Thanks-Living

My Thanksgiving was really nice this year. My son came home from his internship at The Honor Academy and brought a half dozen young men home with him, so our house was a really fun mess. On top of that, I was hosting a missionary Pastor from Rwanda, East Africa and he still finds it hard to believe human beings can eat this much. My brother and sisters all made an appearance and I actually spanked all of them in our family’s annual Texas Hold‘em competition. Yes, the Brewer is a bible thumping, column writing, conference speaking, world traveling, guitar playing, card dealing shark. As Davy Crocket once said, “I’m a screamer”.

So here it is after Thanksgiving and the parade is over. You have survived the ball game and the spandex wearing mayhem at Walmart. Black Friday has come and gone and hopefully without a black eye -but don’t you dare let go of being thankful.

This week’s sip from the Master’s cup comes served with leftovers from our last holiday. For you and I, Thanksgiving is not just a day on the calendar but an actual lifestyle we get better and better at. The good book says in Colossians 2:7 that we are to “abound in thanksgiving”. It means we are supposed to overflow with thankfulness and actually upgrade in being thankful people.

That same pesky book which Paul wrote concerning those nasty gnostics, also says in chapter four, we as Christians should be devoted or sold out in commitment to, three different things. The first is prayer because God wants us with him more than anything else. The second is “being watchful” which means paying attention to spiritual things because we are all residents of heaven living in Texas. Finally the third thing we are supposed to be devoted to is indeed thanksgiving. Dedicated, devoted, purposely intentional about being more thankful today than we were yesterday. If you are thankful, it means you love your life.

People who are not devoted to being thankful tend to be committed to being critical. They live life identifying with the bitter beer face commercials and generally are very comfortable being unhappy. If that is you, let me say on behalf of everyone within your general proximity, you’re no fun to be around! Thankfulness doesn’t just come from good things happening to you. Thankfulness is something you practice. It is a skill which must be developed. It’s an intentional position of your heart and something we can all get better at.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: Ps 91:1

Visit the Brewer at www.troybrewer.com" or at www.freshfromthebrewer.com

A day to Celebrate

I found myself at the courthouse steps last Monday but this time it wasn't because I was in trouble. Judge Harmon and the four Johnson County Commissioners wanted to honor me and the group of crazy Christians I have the privilege of pastoring. They banged a gavel and made an official proclamation upon our behalf saying from here on, November 18th will be known in Johnson County as Open Door Ministries day. A day of “celebration in honor of those that help the poor.”

Judge Harmon and Commissioner Bailey said some really nice things about us giving away more than a million pounds of food every year here locally. They handed us an official proclamation and the people in the court room clapped for us. Flashbulbs popped, confetti fell, and I imagine somebody threw their baby in the air.

I have always wanted a street named after me, but I never imagined my own day on the calendar. I remember when I was a kid I went to Dallas for Texas-OU weekend. As we were driving around downtown waving orange flags I saw a street named Troy. Being 15 years old and wild as a March hare, I wanted that sign to hang proudly on my bedroom wall and I decided to pirate it. My friends and I jumped out, through a rope around it, tied it to the ball of my truck and I punched the accelerator. Nearly thirty years later, I couldn't tell you where that sign is but I bet my bumper is still in downtown Dallas to this day.

So to have a day named Open Door Ministries day is a really big honor to me. As we were walking down the court house steps, Andy Dally asked me like only Andy can, “Now Troy, help me out here because your memory is better than mine. Isn't November the 18th the day that Paula died?”

Paula Ledbetter was my long time friend and church secretary. Her Husband, John, was a child hood friend of mine and still remains like a brother to me. Four years ago, on November the 18th, Paula suddenly and quietly passed away in her sleep. That day was by far the most devastating day we have yet endured as a church. It is amazing to me that out of 365 days in a year, the one single day that was chosen as Open Door Ministries day is the hardest day for us. I see Jesus in this and it is no coincidence.

God has a way of turning our worst places into places of celebration. The heart of Jesus is to turn darkness into light and water into wine. There is nobody like Jesus for turning a scar into a trophy like he does with the holes in His amazing hands. He overcomes evil with good and tragedy with Triumph. So not only we will be celebrating on the 18th, The Lord has called others to celebrate with us.

Esther 9:22 (NIV) as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
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Going Up!

I didn’t know how really country we were when I was little –but we were. My great grandfather lived nearby, who we lovingly called “Pa”, and who would lovingly thrash us with his cane if we got out of hand. A maternal grandparent, pa was not a native of Texas. He was an old moonshine whiskey runner from the hills of Tennessee and ornery as they come. Pa was already in his eighties in the late 1970’s and well set in his ideas about, well just about everything.

For example, he didn’t believe man had gone to the moon and my Uncle Ronny tried to show him NASA’s live TV broadcast. “Why hell son,” he cursed while smoking his pipe, “Them fellers are out in arizoney somewhere.” and then he laughed as if my uncle, a scientist himself, was stupid. I loved Pa.

Pa is long since gone and I hate to argue with my elders but I think it’s safe to assume people have really gone that far in vertical travel.

A long way from down

If that’s not high enough for you try this. Scientists from the National Research Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M. according to an Associated Press story that I am not making up, are proposing to build an elevator that would be 62,000 miles high from something called nano-tube technology. That's right: 62,000 MILES! These brothers who apparently smoke crack on their off time, want to use the elevator to launch stuff into space. One of them is quoted as saying: ''The first country that owns the space elevator will own space.''

Oh sure we laugh now but someday your great grandkids may be hitting all the buttons between the 31^st millionth and 32^nd millionth floors.

Get your upgrade

I think the whole idea of going up is a God idea. In the Kingdom, we learn to live life from upgrade to upgrade, moving in constant transition into better and better. Ascension and upward mobility is a basic theme of living life more abundantly. It’s all about hope and dreaming and tapping into destiny way before you assume room temperature.

Believe it or not people are going up these days and not just faking it for the cameras as my Great grandfather feared. I am bound and determined to be one of them. I am not going back into the things God has brought me out of and I will not settle and rest on any success I have already achieved. While most Christians would agree its bad to fall backwards, most also would fail to realize its just as bad to not go forward.

God is counting on you to launch off into the next great place. You might not have the approval of some but you surely have the Lord’s. So what are you waiting for?

.. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” Isaiah 28:10

Troy Brewer can be reached at www.troybrewer.com or www.freshfromthebrewer.com

Troy Brewer

The next KINGDOM MECHANICS conference starts January 25th and will be better than ever. sign up now www.freshfromthebrewer.com or www.opendoorministries.org

Vera-Cruise

Last week I was pounding my keyboard about the importance of rejecting racial prejustice. I am sure I managed to hack off some people by merely mentioning race and pegging the cringe meters of a few of my limp wristed coherts in ministry. They can all get over themselves and don't even bother trying to call me. At the time you are reading this I will be suffering for Jesus on a cruise to Jamaica and the Grand Cayman.

Once a year my wife and I do a marriage retreat with several good friends of ours where we take off to sandy beaches and distant shorelines. We farm the kids out and try realy hard to forget about everything. well- we don't really have to try that hard.

Through the years Leanna and I have been to Cozumel, Belize, Cancun, Progresso, Veracruz, the Caymans and Jamaica on 7 different trips. Progresso is a septic tank and you shouldn't even bother getting off of the boat but Veracruz is a detour I hope all of you have the privilege of seeing.

Several years ago Hurricane Wilma was tearing up the Gulf of mexico with my boat steaming right across the middle of it. Everybody on board was sea sick and it was something akin to being in a car wreck for ten solid hours. While cozumel was being blown off the map our ship got diverted to an unscheduled stop at Veracruz, Mexico.

Out of all the places I have been on a cruise Vera-cruise has been at the top of my favorite by far. The city is just beautiful and they have a trolly system that makes a circuit through the whole town. if you don't get off you end up at the same place you started so you don't have to worry about getting lost. The people were wonderful and friendly. It was just really neat.

Lunch with a Queen

We also ate at a lovely little restaurant on a cobble stoned street next to an ancient mission first established by Cortez himself. While we were sitting there, an extremely old lady hobbled up and asked us if she could have the bread on our table. I told her no and my wife looked at me really surprised. before she turned away I jumped up and pulled out a chair for her to sit at our table and said “Benvenidos”. Leanna handed her a menu and that Lady lit up like a Christmas tree. We spent the entire after noon talking and laughing and eating and loving on each other. She would pull on my fat cheek like I was a little boy and kiss me . My wife thought she was hilarious and our conversation lasted for a very long time. She went on and on.

I wish I could tell you what we talked about but I cant because I don’t speak spanish and that old lady didn't speak a word of english. It didn't matter.

Dinner with The King

In the book of revelation Jesus promises that if anyone will hear his voice and open the door he will come in and sit down to eat with us like family. I love God’s priority on family and fellowship. If you do have to miss veracruz, I really am sorry but there is no reason for you to miss the table with Jesus. He’s not knocking at your door with his hand, he’s knocking with His voice. He’s calling you by name and He doesnt just want you to be His servant, He wants you to be family.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me Revelation 3:20

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...They are preciouse in His sight

In 1991, a very intoxicated Rodney King drove two friends down the 210 freeway in Los Angeles. He was clocked speeding by the California Highway Patrol and fearing his probation for robbery would be revoked, he refused to stop, leading officers on a high-speed chase, eventually hitting 115 miles per hour.

He was caught by several L.A.P.D. squad cars, a struggle ensued, and some of the officers quickly decided that King was resisting arrest. Even though Sergeant Stacey Koon fired two shots from a taser into King, they still failed to subdue him. From that point the officers mobbed King and began to beat him mercilessly with their batons.

Standing nearby was George Holiday filming the whole terrible beating on video tape sending shock waves around the world and firing up an already suspicious Los Angeles African American community. When they saw the video, most assumed it was nothing more than racial profiling and unchecked abuse by the police. Another blatant example of racial injustice, they said.

A year later the four officers accused in the beating were acquitted of wrong doing in Simi Valley, and for some very ugly and hateful people it was a powder keg excuse to burn their city and go on a racist killing spree themselves. What followed on April 29, 1992, was the worst single episode of urban unrest in American history. 53 people were violently murdered and over $1 billion, with a B, in damage was done to Los Angeles.

Lets be friends

I remember a sober Rodney King, to his credit, standing up during the riots and saying anything he could, to stop the violence. “Cant we just all get along?” he said to the camera.

I also remembering answering his question verbally to a blind and dumb television set. “No, Rodney we cant.” And it had nothing to do with race.

Most people of every race cant get along with a guy who robs, drives drunk, picks up transvestite prostitutes and is arrested multiple times for beating up his wife and daughter. We cant get along with a guy who wins nearly four million dollars in his law suit against the police, and still gets arrested atleast 9 times more in several states after becoming a millionaire.

I want to get along with Rodney King but when you live a life and make decisions that endanger the public I tend to think we would all get along better with Rodney in a prison somewhere.

Though I do not have the privilege of being in the same race it does not make a me a racist if we cant get along because of behavior or the content of one’s character. Thats not to say there is not a racist issue in America there always has been. It is a spirit from hell that is manifest in every tone of skin where people are willing to cooperate with it.

The face of America is changing and if we are going to get along it is not going to be because of race, it is going to be because of shared values and respect for each other. God help us as a country to get past the curse of racism.

Let’s be Family

The church is world-famous for not getting along through the years. Even though the body of Christ transcends all racial and cultural barriers, the house of God has been riddled with domestic violence from the very beginning.

The book of Acts records Peter as a Jew who had a very real racist problem with gentiles and had to have a visit from Jesus himself. Turns out that Jesus is the cure for racism.

For those of us who claim to have our lives changed through the Power of the lord Jesus Christ, there is no room for racial hatred or even tension. There is not a black part of Heaven and a white part. There is no reservation or China town or barrio. There’s just God and His family. Let it be said of you and me as Christians, we stand with Justice, equality and a love for God and other people that make us different from every other people group on the planet.

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. Revelation 7:9-10

Troy Brewer Pastors Open Door Ministries and can be found at Troybrewer.com

Painting Pictures of Dad

Butterfly Kisses

My kids are not the most artistic bunch but when they were little, they would do like most kids and often make a crayon masterpiece. Sometimes they would be thrilled to bring me what some would consider less than flattering circles with heads on them. I would pretend it was not because they saw me as fat, but because they were at some early stage of development.

I’m no psychologist but I would observe the houses were always whole and so were the hearts. That was a big deal to me because so many little people in our children's church draw pictures that would make us bawl. Kids we know with broken homes would draw half houses where the other runs off the page and you can’t see it. I guessed like they couldn't see the other half of their real house. Or they would draw a picture of the new family and leave themselves out of the group or really sad suns or things like that.

All my kids were loved and a little on the spoiled side of a family that has a really big emphasis on family. So when my youngest daughter for example would bring me a picture she would often say “Look daddy, its you!” and she couldn't get it into my hands quick enough. She would wait for my reaction and I would do something silly like put my hand on my chess and yell out “Good googly moogly, I want to paint that vision on the great wall of China!”

She would laugh and run off to draw something else, because she couldn't wait to get another crazy response out of me. I miss those days.

Revelations

As a Christian, I think I still do that kind of thing to my spiritual father. I give to him little moments and eventually a life I think looks like him. When you serve God in a special way what you do has to do with who you believe God to be. It’s what you think He looks like. For example, If you have a revelation about how God loves you and has mercy on you, you find your self loving other people and cutting other people slack in bad situations. You do that unto the Lord and it’s just like giving him something that says “It’s you daddy!”

If you have a revelation about what an awesome giver The Lord is, you will find yourself being a giver in your church or helping something in a bad financial place. That’s you running to The Father, handing him your service and saying, “This looks like you Daddy”.

No fear of criticism. No fear of taking it to Him because He’s a good dad and every time you get an incredible response from The Father that makes you feel like the most loved person on the planet.

In this week’s confession of a highly caffeinated Christian, I pour a cup with mellow flavors to sip on. Think a thought like He thinks today. Do a work like He does and more than that, be like He is in what ever challenging or amazing situation you come across. Let there be something going on between you and God which no one else in the word knows anything about. Give your life and your heart to God and say “Look Daddy, this looks like you,”

Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-4

You can find out more about the Brewer at www.troybrewer.com



Troy Brewer

The next KINGDOM MECHANICS conference starts January 25th and will be better than ever. sign up now www.freshfromthebrewer.com or www.opendoorministries.org

The Secret To Winning

The secret to winning

I have some amazing friends in Northern California who love everything about
Texas except the Dallas Cowboys. Bless their hearts, I have to allow them
some stupidity. 



They call our beloved football team "The evil empire" and refer to Jerry
Jones as "The Emperor". They believe our new stadium to be an unholy place
and say it looks like the death star. Of course, they are just jealous
because the 49ers stink and the bible says where envy is there is every evil
work.  As my kids would say, get over your bad self.



Blue & White Blood 

I was raised to be a loyal Cowboy fan. If someone in my family doesn't like
the Cowboys it is believed to be a manifestation of a demonic spirit or
proof one of my grandmothers jumped the fence and polluted our DNA.    



I totally left our families tradition of being a GMC fan and bought a new
Dodge truck several years ago, I have converted from PC to Mac but it would
be a fatal blow to my dear old mom and dad if I didn't root for the cowboys.
My rebellion can only go so far.



As a Cowboy fan, I have paid close attention to what our coaches have said
through they years. The great Tom Landry didn't speak very much but when he
did, sometimes it was brilliant. In a 1979 interview with dandy Don
Meredith, Coach Landry said, "A winner never stops trying and the real
secret to winning is being constant and consistent.



Constant, Consistent and Faithful

I was thinking about Coach Landry this morning while listening to my friend
Graham Cook preach from a conference several years ago. Like Coach, Graham
believes that having victory is all about being consistent and constant. He
went on to say that in order to tap into a consistent and constant walk of
progression in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must understand how God
persistently and constantly keeps us. He's not on again and off again with
us. He is for us and loves us all the time.  I know a lot of people don't
believe that but I do and this is Fresh From The Brewer. Ha!



"The great thing about journeying with the Lord," Graham says, "is that He
knows how to keep us. Day after day.there is no situation or no circumstance
.where He does not have the power to keep us and to prosper us in all those
things.".



"That's a fabulous thought for me because in all of the ups and downs of
life, God is the one remaining constant. What The Holy spirit is teaching us
today is how to be constant like God is..and the biggest part of that deal
is that you can not know what it is like to be constant, consistent, and
faithful unless you know what it is like to be kept by God and experience
him as all those things.What God wants from you, He first of all gives to
you."  Graham says.



Well I tip my hat to Graham and to coach Landry both for mapping out this
important Kingdom principle of victory. You can't give away what you do not
have. If we are going to be really victorious people we have to be
consistently constant in our pursuit and love for the Lord. The only way
that can happen is if we first understand how God never gives up on us. He's
just really neat like that.  



Troy Brewer Pastors Open Door Ministries near Joshua TX and can be reached
at troy@opendoorministries.org



Troy Brewer



The next KINGDOM MECHANICS conference starts January 25th and will be better
than ever. sign up now     www.freshfromthebrewer.com or
www.opendoorministries.org

We Believe

I get a lot of letters from church leaders wanting to know what me and my
church believe in. Some of them are critical and even hateful saying things
like "After reading this column, I just can't picture you as a Pastor".

Well to you Madam I say me neither, as I sip my amazing cup of Costa Rican
coffee.  You see I lost my job as a whiskey runner and my unemployment
office suggested I put in an application at Open Door. Just kidding, but
then of course religious folk think its righteousness to be a stick in the
mud and a sin to have any kind of laugh at all. I hate religion.       

So it occurred to me I have never printed any form of statement of faith for
what want we go after as a church.  If you are a Christian you may find some
things you don't agree with, but I encourage you to look at it as a holy
buffet. Swallow what you can and pass by the rest that's not for you. If you
are a church elder you may want to use some of this language to map out your
own defining statements of faith.  If you're not a Christian you may still
find it a little intriguing that we really are this crazy.

Statement of Faith

One of the few ways Open Door is traditional is, we adhere to common beliefs
and practices of the Christian church throughout the world and throughout
the centuries. We are Jesus loving people first and foremost, and it's for
this reason we have gathered together as a community. With that said, this
body of believers is a unique group that gives emphasis to things we think
are important that others may not.   

WE BELIEVE the greatest of all commandments is not the great commission, but
rather to Love God and then to love those around us.

WE BELIEVE a church should not only preach about the Love of God but fully
demonstrate God's love and nature to each other and the people we are
preaching to. We also believe that we are not always going to be successful
at this but we will constantly press forward towards that mark.

WE BELIEVE that a churches first priority should be relational before we
attempt to be functional. God doesn't move through our church agenda, but
through our relationships as a body.

WE BELIEVE that while the great commission is not the greatest priority it
should still be a very high priority and because of that, we will not wait
for millions of dollars before we make a million dollar difference here and
throughout the world.

WE BELIEVE the word of God never changes but we as individual Christians and
as a corporate church should progressively grow and change from season to
season.  Our mission statement is, "We are going to transform in order to
change the world."

WE BELIEVE that unity makes us a conduit for God's power.

WE BELIEVE that a church service should be all about an encounter with God
and equipping and edifying the saints. Sometimes there will be more of an
emphasis on worship and sometimes more on teaching, We should be Spirit led
in determining what that priority should be from season to season.

WE BELIEVE that Open Door Ministries is a valuable part of One Church , One
Bride and one Body of Christ that transcends social, economical, racial,
geographical and even generational barriers. The Body of Christ is not an
organization but a living organism that extends from and belongs to Jesus
himself.  We believe a lot of churches do things better than us, but we have
something to offer that is unique and needed within the body.

WE BELIEVE in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and in the practical
application and responsibility of the Saints.

WE BELIEVE that to preach life without loving life is hypocrisy. To preach
the Power of God without demonstrating the Power of God is ludicrous. To say
that God is giving and loving without we as a church being giving and loving
is unthinkable and to teach and study about God without personally knowing
God in intimacy is tragedy and a life wasted.

None of this is a criticism of anyone else. It is just a statement of what
we believe and who we as a church, have to be. The Brewer encourages you to
go after your own decisions that define you and let it be a constant work in
progress.

You can reach Troy at  <http://www.freshfromthebrewer.com/>
www.freshfromthebrewer.com

The Secret to Winning

I have some amazing friends in Northern California who love everything about Texas except the Dallas Cowboys. Bless their hearts, I have to allow them some stupidity.

They call our beloved football team “The evil empire” and refer to Jerry Jones as “The Emperor”. They believe our new stadium to be an unholy place and say it looks like the death star. Of course, they are just jealous because the 49ers stink and the bible says where envy is there is every evil work. As my kids would say, get over your bad self.

Blue & White Blood

I was raised to be a loyal Cowboy fan. If someone in my family doesn’t like the Cowboys it is believed to be a manifestation of a demonic spirit or proof one of my grandmothers jumped the fence and polluted our DNA.

I totally left our families tradition of being a GMC fan and bought a new Dodge truck several years ago, I have converted from PC to Mac but it would be a fatal blow to my dear old mom and dad if I didn’t root for the cowboys. My rebellion can only go so far.

As a Cowboy fan, I have paid close attention to what our coaches have said through they years. The great Tom Landry didn’t speak very much but when he did, sometimes it was brilliant. In a 1979 interview with dandy Don Meredith, Coach Landry said, “A winner never stops trying and the real secret to winning is being constant and consistent.

Constant, Consistent and Faithful

I was thinking about Coach Landry this morning while listening to my friend Graham Cook preach from a conference several years ago. Like Coach, Graham believes that having victory is all about being consistent and constant. He went on to say that in order to tap into a consistent and constant walk of progression in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must understand how God persistently and constantly keeps us. He’s not on again and off again with us. He is for us and loves us all the time. I know a lot of people don’t believe that but I do and this is Fresh From The Brewer. Ha!

“The great thing about journeying with the Lord,” Graham says, “is that He knows how to keep us. Day after day…there is no situation or no circumstance …where He does not have the power to keep us and to prosper us in all those things.”.

“That’s a fabulous thought for me because in all of the ups and downs of life, God is the one remaining constant. What The Holy spirit is teaching us today is how to be constant like God is….and the biggest part of that deal is that you can not know what it is like to be constant, consistent, and faithful unless you know what it is like to be kept by God and experience him as all those things…What God wants from you, He first of all gives to you.” Graham says.

Well I tip my hat to Graham and to coach Landry both for mapping out this important Kingdom principle of victory. You can’t give away what you do not have. If we are going to be really victorious people we have to be consistently constant in our pursuit and love for the Lord. The only way that can happen is if we first understand how God never gives up on us. He’s just really neat like that.

Troy Brewer Pastors Open Door Ministries near Joshua TX and can be reached at troy@opendoorministries.org

Don't cure me of A-D-D

When I was a kid I bounced off the walls a little bit. I was funny, a good kid, but had a really difficult time staying on top of anything. When I was supposed to be listening to my teacher, I would be thinking about dragging a magnet through the dirt or launching a frog with my giant sling shot. Of course all kids do this to some degree but I was a little over the edge. There was something weird about me in that I couldn’t stand being in one place doing one thing for very long. I would want to bolt.

Years later, I began to learn the doctrine of hell through high school homework. I hated it worse than anything. Just a few minutes after I got started I would feel like fleas were crawling in my head because I desperately wanted to be somewhere else doing anything else. It was a serious issue which had to be overcome.

Today I refer to this as the Wal-Mart feeling. It’s the stressful anxiety I get every time I go there. I see the 50 cash registers and only 3 overwhelmed 15 year old girls frantically working behind them and it’s in that stressful environment I want to be anywhere else on the planet. My mind darts all over the room. I begin to inwardly freak out over the dental hygiene of the feller next to me and the choice of tattoos at the top of everybody’s butt. I desperately search for an answer as to why so many women wear spandex to this place. Is this really Wally’s World or a Choctaw bingo reunion?

I have a big laugh on the inside of my head. No one around me appreciates my humor because my thinking is in a lot of different places at one single time. And are you ready for this …it works for me.

THE CURE

Don’t try and put me on Ritalin or send me out for shock treatment. Having many irons in the fire at once and a dozen different programs running on my computer has made me be able to make a huge difference in a lot of different areas. Don’t try and cure me unless of course you are willing to hire a giant staff to do all I do on a daily basis. I have turned what some call a disorder into a valuable asset. I am a master at multi-tasking.

If you multi-task long enough, you become multi-talented. Because I can’t stand doing the same thing or thinking about the same thing for very long – I’ve branched out.

At the age of 42, I have recorded 8 music CDs and had several songs published by various artists though the years. My bands have traveled throughout the world and I have played every kind of venue from funerals to weddings, bars to churches and birthday parties to stadiums with more than 30,000 people. I started the Johnson County Food Bank and today we give away well over a million pounds of food every year to the working poor in our communities and beyond. I have four orphanages with over 700 kids in them on three different continents. I have written five books and have two more I am about to publish. I started a church with seven people and have preached four sermons a week for 14 years. I write a newspaper column that is printed in multiple newspapers throughout the state. I teach leadership courses to companies and do upper management consulting. I do two three day conferences a year here locally and speak at conferences throughout the world. I have a beautiful wife of 20 years and four kids. Two kids are in college and two kids in high school. My youngest son rides saddle bronc in rodeos and my oldest son plays bass in one of my bands. My youngest daughter is a leader in our youth group and my oldest daughter is in nursing school to be an RN. In my spare time right now I am building a walk-in birdcage next to my waterfall and learning to convert from PC to a MAC.

I’m sure the devil would love to have me healed of A-D-D but that cosmic punk should of never messed with me. The Brewer says, “No Cigar, Diablo!” all while checking my email and scheduling another mission’s trip to Uganda East Africa.

Just because a kid doesn’t do well in one setting, say a class room, doesn’t mean he can’t do well in lots of other settings. If you have a teen that struggles like this, have hope. I don’t think most people with A-D-D need a cure they need a purpose and a passion. That’s where Jesus Christ comes in. What the Lord has done for me is nothing less than turning a curse into a blessing. He can do the same for you because that’s what He does best of all.

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalms 139:13-14

Troy Brewer Pastors Open Door Ministries and can be reached at troy@opendoorministries.org