Ambrose Brothers

You Never get a 5th Chance to Make 13th Impression.

Today’s Passage Ecclesiastes 10:1-3

1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment,
       And cause it to give off a foul odor;
       So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.
       2 A wise man’s heart is at his right hand,
       But a fool’s heart at his left.
       3 Even when a fool walks along the way,
       He lacks wisdom,
       And he shows everyone that he is a fool.

In today’s passage we see Solomon heading back in to his proverbial wisdom, offering us more insight on a variety of topics. I’ll be honest as I saw this, by first thought was to speed through it, to reach more of a solid teaching style. But then I started reading, and right away it grabbed my attention. Pause for a second and reread verse 1; if that didn’t catch your attention the first time, I hope it did the second and it offers the same great truth today that it did thousands of years ago.

There’s an old saying that says "you never get a second chance to make a first impression". Yet the same can be true of all the impressions we leave with people. Once we gain the respect of men, that respect is easily ripped from us, by a simple mistake we may have made. Much like the dead flied stink up the sweet smelling ointment, one stupid decision can stink up our reputation and eventually our entire testimony.

We’ve all had those moments. Those times we do stupid things, that for some reason people never forget. When I was 21 years old I was a youth pastor at a small country church on one of my earliest activities I was driving the kids down a country road, I turned to tell someone to quite down a bit, and drove through a stop sign. I immediately realized my mistake and took the ribbing from the kids, followed by the anger of the parents. After that time, we saw a revival in the youth group, the numbers went from 6 or 7 youth up into the 60’s kids were getting saved, kids were coming themselves to serve the Lord. Yet here I am 10 years later, and when I see kids from that original group, many of them remember me as the Youth Guy who ran the stop sign.

That perhaps may never be a big stumbling block, but sometimes those follies we make can limit our testimonies for ever. For example a little slip of the tong at work, and you may be though of as the hypocrite who goes to church and swears. You may see no problem with alcohol, but if someone sees you bringing that 6 pack home you may be thought of as that Christian who drinks all the time. Often times 1 small mistake can change someone’s opinion of you forever.

Romans 14:21 speaks somewhat to this subject as well "21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak."

This passage although speaking about food (clean or unclean) as well at later in 1 Corinthians (may or may not be offered to idols) tells us to not do anything in which a brother is offended or made weak. Once again we see that that dead fly can stink up the ointment.

As we conclude today let me say we have all made mistakes and have some dead flies stinking up our reputation. And if the Lord tarries we will all add a few more dead flies to the pot. But it is important that we remember this and carefully weigh all our decisions in the light of eternity. It is important that we guard our tongs and our actions against such falls. It is important we strive not to offend a brother with something that doesn’t matter in light of eternity.

Out Action point today: Let us strive to keep the ointment of our testimonies smelling as sweet as we can.

Rulers of Fools

Ecclesiastes 9:13-18

I know it has been a while, but I hope you are ready to get back into the book of Ecclesiastes. For some time now, we have been reaping bits of wisdom from Solomon.  In the rough times our great country has been facing recently and are preparing to face, I think it would do us well to dig into God's Words (the Bible) to give us some advice.

Today we will look at few verses, but I would really like to focus on one truism that we fine right in the middle of our text.  However it will make more sense if you read the verses prior.

Ecclesiastes 9:17 "The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools"

We can use this verse to describe so many of the current issues we face.  We could look at the economy, and find those who have said for a long some time, that sooner or later this would happen, but no one listened.  We could take a political view of the shape of our country and the mess we are in, but instead, let's take a spiritual look at the mess we are in.

Let's take a look at this 700 billion dollar disaster that got passed.  I was listening the radio the other day, it was a talk news program out of Detroit, and wish I hadn't been driving so I could have wrote down the name the genius who made this comment "If we don't pass this rescue bill, the people won't have the credit they need to keep the economy going" Think about that statement for a moment.

Having credit in itself is not bad, but what happens when we use credit?  We accumulate debt.  And what happens when we have debt?  We have to pay it back.  What happens when we can't pay it back?  We borrow more money from someone else and accumulate more debt.  What happens once we have that debt?  We have to pay it back.  What happens when we can't pay that off?  The government bails you out, and with what money?  Money they borrow, which is debt, which has to be paid back, which they can't.  Until eventually the piper has to be paid, and it all comes crashing down!  This is the picture of an economy built on money that we don't have!

Let's take a look at what the ruler of fools have been saying (and yes if we follow them we are the fools).  One the comment we just looked at pretty foolish, but just listen to the adds on T.V. and Radio.  "Buy now, pay later"  "Small easy payments"  "Bad Credit, no credit, no problem"  The leaders of our society tell us to buy, buy, buy, to fuel the economy.  So we are all buying with imaginary money.

Now let's take a look at some quiet words of the wise (GOD!) 

Romans 13:8a "Let no debt remain outstanding"
Proverbs 22:7 "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender"
Psalm 37:21a "The wicked borrow and do not repay"

For the sake of keeping this short (well kinds short)  we won''t look at the other 2347verses in the Bible that relate to how we handle  money and possessions,  but I think it is clear how God views debt, (wise) and how the leaders of the great nation views debt (Foolish!)

Action step for today: Heed the quiet words of wisdom not the shouts of the rulers of fools.  You want to see our economy turn around STOP SPENDING MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE!  Don't  count on the next politician, but count on the timeless Truths found in God's Word!

Pastoral Outlaws

Last weekend a number of Pastor’s around the country decided to stand up, and break the law. Not because they were no longer allowed to preach the word, not because they were no longer to gather together to worship, not even because there Bibles had been banned in some public forums. No these Pastors broke the law to push their own political agenda’s; basically the law states that if churches support a political candidate by name they risk losing there tax-exempt status with the IRS.

All together 32 pastor’s participated in braking the ban on supporting the pan from the pulpit on what was called "Pulpit Freedom Sunday" organized by the Alliance Defense fund out of Arizona. The group claims that it’s important that the church not the IRS decided weather or not the pastor preaches politics from the pulpit.

It also seems these groups did not support a specific canadate, merely the right to endorse that candidate. It seems a number of candidates were supported on this outlaw Sunday, including third party canadate Alan Keys. Keys found support through Rev Wiley Drake pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, California.

All that being said I strongly disapprove of Pastors taking it upon themselves to Stand against the law to "Preach candidates" from the pulpit. And here’s why; you may remember this passage from a month back, but apparently not everyone was reading. Romans 13:1-21 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.  Form the mouth of Paul himself, inspired by the Spirit of God; we are to obey authorities whom God has placed over us. The only opt out clause is when those laws go directly against the word of God (Read Daniel Chapter’s 3 and 6 if you don’t believe me). Now as I have said before I’m no Bible scholar, but I don’t believe a law telling churches not to endorse political candidates from the pulpit is unbiblical.

On the other side of the coin however I believe some churches go to far the other way. It is fine to speak on social issues that impact our country in a political way. I believe it’s the pastor’s responsibility to speak against abortion and encourage his congregation to vote accordingly. And I believe a pastor could speak on the evils of Gay marriage, and encourage his congregation to vote accordingly. Pastor’s should also encourage there congregations to become informed on the candidates and look at issues like religious freedoms, and the candidates own religious life. However there is not a place for said pastor to stand at his pulpit and tell people to vote for one candidate over the other.

There may also be the right place for Pastor’s to break the law. For example California has bills being looked at that will make it illegal for Churches to preach against homosexuality. If that were to become a law then I believe it would be biblically ok to break it. If public prayer become illegal, as it has in the schools, then I believe we need to break it. If like so many other countries the very word of God became a banned book, then it would be up to men of God to break that law as well. But to stand before ones congregation and say "Alan Keys should be our next president you should vote for him and here’s why". This brings no honor to God.

All of that being said, I believe the church needs to be involved in politics today. We need to vote for Godly men and women who will strive to keep this country on the right track. We need to stand up for our rights, and for the rights of Christendom. I believe quite Christians sat by and let prayer be abolished in school, and did not raise an outcry to Roe V. Wade years ago. We must let our voices be heard, and Pastor’s should encourage their congregation’s to get out and vote for candidate’s who fall in line with foundational truths of the Bible. Yet Pastor’s must be careful themselves to not fall into sin well doing so.