A Thing For Trains

I’ve had a thing for trains since I was a little kid. When I was three, my parents lived in a trailer house and I loved it because I thought it was a boxcar. Long before, of course I made my first million selling horned toads to Northerners.

So it’s been a big deal to me to ride trains all over the world. The Silverton/Durango train in Colorado, a bullet train from London to Edinburgh, Scotland and even sat on top for a four-hour ride in North East India. I have even made the perilous journey through Forrest Park on the miniature train that starts at the Ft. Worth Zoo. The Brewer’s got guts.

There’s a restaurant in Pantego, Texas called Campo Verde that has a model train running up near the ceiling and through the house as you eat. Every time I go, my A.D.D. kicks in and Leanna has to order for me. There’s something romantic and adventurous about trains to me. I tend to love things that are going places.

Circus Train

A few months ago I was at Keith Neil’s backyard for a plate of his world famous bar-b-q. His place is positioned beautifully in a mature pecan orchard and his property ends at a railroad track. While we were literally and figuratively chewing the fat, a North bound train blew by destined for parts unknown. The discussion changed to trains he had seen pass by through the years.

We talked about army trains with rockets and how I had seen The Freedom Train blow through Joshua in 1976. He topped mine by describing the Ringling Brothers Circus train and from there everything goes a little fuzzy. My wheels started spinning. I had never seen the circus train. How could I live through 41 years and never see the circus train? This had to be part of my bucket list of things to do before I assume room temperature. Right then and there I decided to go home, get on the Internet and find out when the Ringling Brothers show would rumble down the tracks in my neck of the woods.

But I didn’t. The week got hard. My life got busy and in a very little while my duty to responsibility bullied away the simple dream of chasing down something out of the usual.

So when I turned the corner last Tuesday night and saw the Ringling Brothers’ Circus train right in front of me, it was like an Elvis sighting! Man I was thrilled. Leanna and the kids were not sure what the big deal was but I was yelling, “Look, look, look!”

66 cars, I counted. The same number of books in the bible and all the while I was thinking how incredible God is that He answers the simplest of prayers. Then as we headed back towards the house, it occurred to me. I had never prayed that prayer.

Now God gets my attention when He answers prayers but He really gets my attention when He answers prayers I never even prayed. Sometimes the Lord sees stuff in our heart and brings those things to pass just because He loves us. I’ve heard Garth say thank God for unanswered prayers but I want to thank God for answering un-prayed prayers.

That makes me want to be really responsible, not just in my prayer life and thought life but also in my WANT LIFE. The things we want matter to him. King David said that out of all the things he wanted in his lifetime, it really boiled down to one thing.

One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalms 27:4

Like David I want to live so close with God in such a way, I see how beautiful He is every single day of my life. Even if it’s through a circus train.

Contact the Brewer @ www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

The Number Eight in August 08, 2008

Today's article is a real treat for Fresh From The Brewer fans as Pastor Troy takes a moment to discuss the significance of this day in history.

The following is an excerpt from his newest book, "Numbers That Preach."

We hope you'll enjoy this read and have a new appreciation for numbers as they apply to our day and time. Copies of this book can be ordered through our website at www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com.

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For more than twenty years, Troy Brewer has studied and kept notes on this incredible subject. In 2003 he began to assemble those notes into a book he calls Numbers that Preach. the out come has just been published this year and its packed full of his insight on what God was speaking through biblical numbers in modern and historical events.

The Number Eight



= NEW BEGINNINGS



EIGHT. This is the number that God uses to illustrate Resurrection. It has to do with new birth, new life and new creation. When God preaches on redemption and when He makes things alive again, He likes to use the number eight in his language.

For example, THERE ARE 8 NEW THINGS promissed to us in the word of God.

A new song (Ps 96:1 Rev 5:5:9)
A new name (Isaiah 65:2 Rev 2:17)
A new Heart (Ezekiel 18:31)
A new Spirit (Ezekiel 11:19)
A new tongue (Mark 16:17 Acts 2:4)
A new commandment (John 13:34)
A new heaven and a new Earth
Rev 21:1 and Isaiah 66:22

Other examples include:

8 people in the ark when it rested on Ararat.

Circumcision was to be performed on the 8th day: Luke 2:21.

King David was the 8th son of Jesse.

Aaron and sons began their ministry on the 8th day:

The word "born" appears 8 times in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus.

The word "water" appears 8 times in Jesus' conversation with the woman at the well.

Elijah performed 8 miracles.

Elisha performed 16 miracles (2x8).

Jesus rose up on the 8th day or the first day of the week.

The title of Jesus as "Redeemer" shows up 8 times in scripture

The 119th Psalm is divided up into 22 sections of 8 verses each.

8 women prophets in the bible
(Miriam; Exodus 15:20, Deborah; Judges 4:4, Huldah; 2 Kings 22, Anna; Luke 2:36, and the 4 virgin daughters of Philip in Acts 21:8)

8 additional apostles other than the original 12.
(Matthias, Barnabas, Paul, Andronicus, Junia. James, Silvanus and Timothy)

8 things worthy to think on in Philippians 4:8.
If you want a new beginning in your mind, these are things you have to think on.
(Things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of a good report, virtue and praise)

8 caves in the bible.
Caves are always used in the word of God as safe places of hiding for a season until God can work a whole new beginning in the life of the person that stays there. You see it in Lot's fleeing to the cave, David's headquarters while Saul was after him and Elijah hearing the still small voice. That's why the bible says Lazarus, the same guy that Jesus resurrected, was buried in a cave and not in a grave ( John 11:38 )

The word eight appears 80 times in scripture.

Adam lived 800 years after Seth was born. Seth, Adams 3rd son, represented new beginnings after the murder of Able and the eviction of Cain. The name Seth shows up in the bible exactly eight times.

08.08.08 = THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES
The numerical value of the name of Jesus as it is written in Greek is 888. While the number of the Antichrist or the beast might be 666 the number of Jesus is 888 (111x 8)

Iesous= 888
I (10) + e (8) + s (200) + o (70) + u (400) + s (200)

It's 8 three times or new beginnings completed .

BEHOLD I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW!
The most watched movie in History, "The Jesus film" has been translated into 888 languages and Campus Crusades for Christ distributed the 20 millionth copy in march of 2005.

Today's Toll free number is America is 888. I hope that this reminds somebody that Jesus is the free gift of God given to man. It is by Him that the Price has been paid for all of us.

Isaiah 55:1

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

So the next time you see the symbol for infinity (number 8 on its side) or you find yourself dialing a toll free number in the USA ( the USA was formed in 1776 which is 888 x 2), remember that God has a new beginning for you in the person of Jesus Christ

God preaches through the number eight and what a powerful message it is!

TODAY IS THE THE ONLY DAY OF THIS CENTURY
THAT NUMBERS SAYS THE NAME JESUS!

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NUMBERS THAT PREACH

You can order Troy's book on this subject now by contacting us at www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

The Shack

When my wife and I first got married, we moved into a house that had been literally used to store hay from the early nineteen seventies. It was a shack. I couldn’t afford much and this man from Springtown told me he would let me live in the old house if I would take care of his cows and his 400 acres. So that’s what I did.

While it looked terrible on the outside, my father in law and I spent three months redoing the walls, the ceiling and the floors. By the week of my marriage, we had converted a rundown cabin into the Brewer’s hillbilly palace. It was awesome.

We spent our first three years of marriage in young loves bliss until a tornado threw the coupling of a train into it; but that’s a whole other story.

Twenty years later, I look back and think wonderful things about that old house. It was a special time and means a lot to me. So when I saw a book called The Shack on the Christian best-seller list, it caught my eye. I knew I had to read it.

My wife and I went through the book like a June bug through a duck because we couldn’t put it down. When finished, we talked about it so much we read though it again. In the past six weeks, Leanna and I have given away at least twenty copies to family and leaders on our ministry team.

It’s a keeper. Now I am a big reader and enjoy a lot of books. Because I’m a history nut, I read a lot of biographies. I highly recommend Billy Graham’s Just As I Am. It’s a fantastic read. I have got to tell you, the biography that has made the biggest impact on my life so far is Save Me From Myself by Brain “Head” Welch. What an incredible story of how God changes and redeems our lives.

Because I’m a nerd, I read a lot of Astronomy stuff. Because I’m a traveler, I read a lot of history on specific places. I have a subscription to Texas Monthly, Astronomy and Success magazines. I tend to pick up copies of Outreach and Biblical Archeology. I canceled my subscription to Savage Sword of Conan years ago but still miss it.

Some books fall into a category of everybody-ought-to-have-to-read sometime in their life. A few no-brainers for me would be To Kill A Mockingbird and A River Runs Through It.

Different reads have meant different things to me through the years. I judge a book by the way it changes or upgrades my life. Some of the top keepers on my shelf that made the biggest impact would be The Body by Chuck Colson. Foxes Book of Martyrs, The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus. A Divine Confrontation by Graham Cook,
The Diary of Ann Frank, Fresh Fire by Mario Murillo and others that have rocked my world from time to time. The God Chasers and The Prayer of Jabez were best sellers that I got a lot out of and I don’t usually get best sellers.

So of course I was suspicious when I picked up The Shack. I highly underestimated the effect this book would have on me. It challenged me in so many ways to review my relationship with God and where I think God is when life really stinks.

This week’s sip from the Carpenter’s cup comes perking with encouragement to stay teachable. Keep moving forward. Remain progressive and live life full of transition.
Graham Cooke says the greatest threat to a new move of God in your life is the last move of God. I don’t want what I’ve learned to keep me from learning anything else and I don’t want my last experience with God to keep me from finding him again and again. I’m determined to be teachable because I don’t want miss what new things the good Lord has for me.

Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

Contact the Brewer @ www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

The BREWER meets BATMAN..

This year in movies has been a lot like the beginning of Oliver Twist. It’s been the best of times and the worst of times. I am about to tell you my twist on the biggest movie of the year so far, why it’s a great movie and why its message is as dark as the title suggests.

Two-Faced

Before you accuse me of being like Harvey Dent, let me tell you there is nothing wrong with a Christian being entertained. When my parents were kids, they were told that if Jesus came back while they were in the movie house, they would all miss the rapture. So they snuck into the matinées hoping and praying the return of the Lord would be warded off one more day.

It’s a lot like teenage Christian boys do before they get married. They get on their knees besides their bed and pray with tears, “Please don’t come back before my wedding night!” There are some things a young man just doesn’t want to miss.

A Better Class of Criminal

Anyway, it’s ridiculous and downright counter-Christian to say we only belong in a church house. Religion is always focused on going to Heaven even it means blowing yourself up or flying a plane into a building. Christianity is all about bringing Heaven to earth. Overcoming evil with goodness; you know, life and life more abundantly. When religion bleeds over into Christianity, it’s just as ugly as Sharia law and the Brewer wants nothing to do with it.

The other side of Harvey’s coin is I realize Christ set me free for freedom’s sake. Not so I could be caught up in the same mess as everyone else. So there are lots of things I don’t want to be a part of. Just because its legal, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. So when I go to a movie, I’ll enjoy it because it’s a good movie. Sometimes, I enjoy a well-made movie and totally disagree with the message it projects.

For me, the latest Batman movie was just like that.

If you asked me what I thought about the movie I would agree with most of what you have already heard. Great acting, the cinematography was awesome and the dialog was well thought out. I liked the pace of the movie and being a musician, the score and the sound would get a 10 from me. A well made movie not full of sex scenes and terrible language. I knew it would be violent so nothing shocked me or seemed way out of whack. Excellent movie.

Did I like it? No, not really.

Why So Serious?

There’s a theme I see a lot these days and nowhere better than in this movie. The theme has to do with loosing our minds, making terrible decisions and destructive behavior all based upon the trauma we suffer. The Joker, Two Face and even Batman himself, are all people that live in terrible darkness justified by something else terrible. The idea being if you have had something traumatic happen to you, it just makes sense to throw everything else out the window. I don’t like that and I see it everyday in people we are ministering to.

There is no hope in that message and it’s a growing theme to the mindset of our generation.

Lets Put a Smile on That Face

So if there are bats in your belfry, there’s still hope for a right mind. No matter what your history is, the truth of Christianity says your destiny in Christ is much greater. The love of God is greater than the pain of the world. I’m not minimizing anyone’s trauma; I’m simply maximizing your potential for a much greater future.

You’re no Joker. You’re somebody God has his eye on. He has bet his life on a much better future for all of us. You tap into your fullest once you hook up with Him.

...But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. Romans 5:20

Contact the Brewer at www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

Dixon and Willoughby

Do you like your name? It used to be that a person’s name really meant something. Troy Brewer could be interpreted “city of trouble” since Troy is a famous ancient city and one definition of Brewer is a troublemaker. But you and I both know the real meaning of my last name and I don’t think it originally had to do with coffee. So, I guess you could also call me “Milwaukee”. That’s another city famous for Brewing.

Don’t panic, were sticking to a coffee theme. In fact I love coffee so much maybe one of my kids will call their first child Starbuck. That would be –no actually that wouldn’t be good at all. Star Buck Brewer.

Speaking of weird names for your kid, my el-primo iPhone has a news application and I was checking the wire last week. There was a picture of this knucklehead and his pregnant girlfriend posing in front of their love shack. The reason for the headline is because they had both agreed to sell the rights to their unborn boy's name to an Orlando radio station for a $100 gas card. Two disc jockeys plan to name the baby after themselves. When the baby is born this winter, he will be named Dixon and Willoughby Partin, with the "and" included. The mama, Samantha says at least her son will have an interesting story about how he got his name.

That’s what all of us want in life, isn’t it? An interesting story about how we got our name. Not a family. Not a role model, certainly not parents that make good decisions and do things for the benefit of their children. What it all comes down to is show and tell time on why you have a pathetically stupid name.

I know another interesting story he will have to tell. His mom and dad loved each other but not enough to be married and give this kid his daddy’s name. However, they thought it best to turn over this responsibility to a couple of guys on the radio because dad needed a tank of unleaded. Woop-T-swingin-doo is what I have to say about that.

Dixon and Willoughby plan to be at the hospital when the baby is born and will hand over the gas card when they see the official birth certificate. I bet dad is there long enough to get his card and 15 minutes of fame. Then he’ll burn up the highway to the nearest quick sack for another twenty dollars worth of lotto tickets.

Of course, Samantha’s daddy is sure proud of who his daughter hooked up with and her fantastic decision making paradigm. God bless her and Dixon and Willoughby. I’m not referring to the radio hosts but to the kid...oh it’s all a big mess. I wonder if he will refer to himself as ‘we’ instead of I.

First day of school: Dixon and Willoughby are you are here?

Some beautiful little first grader: “Yes, we are present ma’am.”

How stupid is that? People wonder why some guy is in a tower sniping innocent people with a hunting rifle and sometimes it’s because his parents were idiots. My friend Steve Jones says his wife teaches a child with the first name of Placenta. When they asked the mama why she would give her child such a name, she said, “Placenta is a hospital term”.

So is fecal matter but I wouldn’t give that name to a parrot. If you don’t understand the word, don’t tag your kid with the name. When I consider these same people are going to vote, it makes me want to go on a 40 day fast for our country.

Enough of my rant. Let me finish and say names are important. Identity is a really big deal. Nobody knows you and I better than our maker and nobody has a greater right to tell us who we are. Every time a human being has a personal encounter with this God, we come away with not only a new perspective of who He is, but who we are as well. He calls us royalty, he calls us family and he always calls us blessed. He also gives us the grace to live up to the good name He calls us.

And being found in appearance as a man, he (Jesus) humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. Philippians 2:8-9

Contact the Brewer @ www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

Middle Aged Crazy!

There are several wrong things I used to think about people my age. I remember thinking when I hit 41, I would be old. I also thought in the year 2000 I would fly a hovercraft and shoot a ray gun. None of it was true. I had other silly thoughts like everybody felt grown up at 18 or maybe 21. I am for the first time in my life, just now, feeling like I am not a kid anymore. So it stood to silly reason I would feel old in my forties but it’s just not the case. There’s less smileage on the mileage and I’m aware of wear and tear, but I certainly don’t think I am old.

I have never been afraid of getting old. My thirties were much better than my twenties and I fully expect my forties to be much better than my thirties. There are big advantages to being my age, one of the greatest being; all four of my kids have jobs! Life for the Brewer is generally sweet.

One of the good things about being middle-aged is I find pleasure in much simpler things. For example, if I wear a belt, my belly button is a lot closer to where it’s supposed to be and that makes me happy.

The New Thirty

In the early eighties Jerry Lee Lewis came out with a song called Middle Aged Crazy. The lyrics described a man that fought off old age by trading everything in for a newer model. I vaguely remember a movie with the same title. I think it had Bruce Dern in it.

It seems to me, the anxieties many of us face at this age, especially for men, come from not having achieved certain dreams. The disappointment of being a lot poorer than you thought you would be and the realization of where you really are in life can cause any feller to shout a Homer Simpson “D’oh!’

Woulda-coulda-shoulda is a mantra chanted by people throughout the centuries and it doesn’t get you anything except a fresh bottle of Zanex. As Christians, God has a way of connecting us much more with our destiny than our history. That should be our priority. The need to achieve should motivate us and not be degraded to faster cars and younger women.

Better Hope Breakdown

I think it’s the will of God to turn general frustration into what I call Holy Ghost anticipation. With some help from the grace of God it can actually be healthy to be discontent with our current circumstances. The hope for better things is a really big deal.

But a thinking culture of self-pity will spin you off into dark places like a goldfish down the toilet. A date on the calendar should never justify those mindsets. A mental file full of times past should not justify our doubt and unbelief.

If our attention is more focused on what God has done and what God is still doing, instead of what we think God should of done or what God didn’t do, we will be people grateful, thankful and full of better hope. Middle aged “happy” you might say.

“As a man thinketh, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7

Contact The Brewer @www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com

Parts Unknown

1983 was not just a Jemi Hendrix song; it was also a year of our Lord that began on a Saturday. President Reagan called it the ‘Year of the Bible.’ It was the year Carrie Underwood the singer, was born and the year that Bear Bryant the football coach died.

It’s the year we said hello to the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and the year we said goodbye to the De Lorean motor company.

At the same time McDonalds was bringing us the Chicken McNugget we waved goodbye to NASA’s Pioneer Ten as it left our solar system for parts unknown

Parts is Parts

Now the Brewer worked at McDonalds in 1983. I cooked and cleaned underneath a giant Afro that was crammed under a McDonalds hat. I was sixteen years old spending my long days at Joshua High and my long nights working for the vision of Ray Kroc. It was a good place for me to work and my first real job outside of working on farms.

Every time we would fry up a new batch of chicken nuggets we would throw them out of the deep fryer while proudly proclaiming, “parts is parts.” I don’t know if you remember it or not, but Wendy’s came out with a commercial that year causing people to question the ingredients of our beloved pieces of bird.

It went something like this:

Announcer: Those nibits some hamburger places serve are actually processed chicken

Customer in line: Excuse me sir what is that meal I saw there?

McDonald employee: Chicken.

Customer: What’s Processed chicken?

McDonald's employee: Yeah that’s like when they take a lot of chicken and assemble their respected parts.

Customer: What parts?

McDonald's employee: “Different parts. Parts is parts”

Unknown Parts

Its not just fast food that has parts unknown. There are lots of things you can look at and not tell what it’s made of. A woman’s heart for example; now theirs there’s an unsearchable place! Geographically speaking I have been to places in Africa and in India that have yet to appear on a map. One time me and some friends of mine rented a river boat in Costa Rica and went to a village way out in the middle of nowhere for a food outreach. I don’t necessarily recoil at parts unknown; it’s just how God made me.

Parts is not parts when it comes to the map of our daily lives. We love the roads we have often traveled. We find security in things most familiar. It’s those unknown parts that we reject and try to steer away from because we don’t know how we will handle those places. We are not sure if we can hold ourselves together in parts unknown.

I find myself in places all the time where I’m not sure how to map it out. Spiritual places, emotional places, relational places. Places I don’t really want to be at in this stage of my life and places I’ve never been before. Parts unknown.

There is a verse from the Bible I hang on to reserved for unknown areas. It’s a promise from the Lord himself that offers me security when treading through those vulnerable places past the familiar and common.

“…and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Matthew 28:20

Jesus said this Himself and it’s the promise of His very presence. The newer translations say the ‘end of the age.’ So the promise is that if you are at the end of a season in your life or the end of an era or the end of your mapped out territory even at the end of your rope, what ever your problem is, it wont be that you are alone. Jesus is there and He’s hoping you will look for Him.

Contact The Brewer at www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com