We are going to take the word of God and make practical application in our lives today, right here, on the line of fire. It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.
That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, welcome to our Monday edition of The Line of Fire. I hope you had a good weekend.
I had a wonderful time preaching in Canada in Saskatoon Friday night, then a leaders meeting Saturday morning, then Saturday night, then Sunday morning. And it's always great to be among folks who are hungry and thirsty for the things of God and who want you to get up from the pulpit and speak the truth. I've got to be honest with you. I don't get invited places that don't want me to speak the truth. I don't get invited places that aren't hungry for the word of God.
But it's always a delight. I've had week after week now of preaching in this new year and so many places where people want you to tell it like it is and open up the scriptures. And they don't want their ears tickled. And they don't want their flesh coddled. They want truth.
And they want truth regardless of cost or consequence. That's the environment that I love to be in. Hey. I just want to mention this, and then what we're going to do today, I'm not taking calls, but what I want to do today is I want to. Get into scriptures.
And look at a number of scriptural principles that are super relevant for life today and talk them through with you. And hopefully, this will be a great way to start your week. Together, we can start it here on the line of fire. But just want to mention to you that if you feel called to gospel ministry, maybe called to the mission field, maybe called to plant churches. Not just to go to a seminary to grow in knowledge of the word or a Bible college to grow in knowledge of the word, but you feel specifically called.
You want to be trained to go out and do ministry work, be a missionary, be a church planter, be an evangelist. That's your burden. You want a place where you can be intensively. Immersed and challenged and strengthened in the word and strengthened and trained in practical ministry. Consider Fire School of Ministry.
This is a focused, intense three-year program. The third year is half internship, half practical classes and mentoring. And you'll be in an environment, a focused environment where others have like heart. You're not going to be in a campus of multiplied thousands or many hundreds of students, but a focused environment where you're trained, equipped. I teach on a weekly basis.
We have a phenomenal faculty. We have hands-on ministry that can be done. You will be impacted, and you can join our team of world changers serving around America and around the world. You've got to be at least 18. You've got to be a serious believer.
We've had students graduating in their 70s. We've had students graduating in their 20s. But you've got to be a serious believer. You've got to be committed to the Lord and you've got to sense a calling on your life to do ministry. If that's you, go to our website, fire-school.
Fire-school.org to find out more. By God's grace, we're planting schools in other parts of the world. We have a full-time school and a part-time school in Cameroon, Africa. We have a full-time school in Rotterdam, in Holland, we have a full-time school in the Philippines, and we're looking to open up schools with our grads in other parts of the world. We have a school with a special inner-city focus in Chicago.
And I was. in Saskatoon preaching about revival and talking about the great things God does in revival.
Well, these schools that are growing around the world, our missions work that is growing around the world, people that have been on the mission field now over 15 years, bearing fruit, planting churches, caring for orphans, caring for widows, making a difference in their communities around the world and in America as well. This is long-term fruit of a revival that took place in Pensacola, Florida, 1995 to 2000. The fruit remains, the fruit continues. Even me carrying the burden that I carry, being on the air with you today, this is still ongoing fruit of a larger move of God. All right, we'll come back and get into the word.
Change the world inspire we want For fire we It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
All right, let's dig into the scriptures together. Let's make practical application of the word of God in our lives, and let's do it in the midst of controversy. Let's apply the word to our own hearts in the midst of the political nonstop heat controversy in which we find ourselves today with our new president and with the critics of our new president. This is Michael Brown. You're listening to the line of fire.
Let's. Put the word of God into practice. And let's read the words of Jesus. Matthew chapter 7, very, very familiar words to most followers of Jesus. He says this.
Do not judge. or you two will be judged. for in the same way you judge others, You will be judged. And with the measure you use, It will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye?
and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother, Let me take this spec out of your eye. when all the time there is a plank in your own eye. You hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
So I preached in Saskatoon, Canada Friday night, got back to my hotel room, and was burdened to write. And I wrote an article that you can read on our website on thelineofire.org entitled Left Wing Intolerance and Right Wing Hypocrisy. Ooh. In other words, I was looking For hypocrisy on my side of the fence, in my life, among those of us that consider ourselves conservative. Or right-leaning.
You may be Republican, you may not. You may have voted for Donald Trump, you may not. But overall, you put yourself in the conservative, right-leaning class, which would be the great majority of my listeners, my readers, and my viewers. I just I I see this all too often. Certainly, I see it constantly on the side of the left.
And I address it constantly. And what makes it galling is that the left is claiming to be so tolerant. Oh, we're the tolerant ones. We're the progressive ones. We're the open-minded ones.
We're the liberal ones. They don't see the degree of intolerance and small-mindedness. I was reading an article in the New York Post by a guy who says that he's gay and now coming out as conservative, and that he did an interview with a controversial gay conservative leader and got vilified for it. All he did was seek to present the guy fairly. Got vilified for it, mocked and attacked, and people cutting him off and unfriending him and wouldn't talk to him and avoiding him.
And he thought, wow, these are all the liberals. These are all the liberals. These are all the people on the left and they're vicious and they're ugly and they're small-minded. And he realized that's not who he wanted to be associated with.
So, I mean, left-wing intolerance has been on full display. recent months.
So you had the riots against free speech in Berkeley, Berkeley University, the home of the free speech movement, right? You got the boycotts of Trump-related fashion.
So designers who said they're not going to work with Melania and stores that are dropping Ivanka's line. And these are the very people that vilify us when you have, say, a Christian baker who says, hey, in good conscience, I can't, I'll serve you. I'll buy cookies, buy cakes, do whatever, but I can't violate my conscience and make a wedding cake for something I don't agree with. And if it's two men getting married, I don't agree with that. It violates my religious beliefs.
I can't do it.
So we get vilified for that and attacked for that. People take us to court. People lose businesses. Over that, Christians have lost businesses and income and over that. But the left has no problem to say, well, we're going to drop this line.
They're going to reject this and reject that. Amazing. Amazing intolerance. And you have entertainers who receive credible death threats if they performed at the inauguration of Donald Trump to other entertainers getting blacklisted for performing.
So the intolerance of the left, the so-called tolerant ones, the enlightened ones, the progressive, open-minded ones, their intolerance is absolutely galling. And that means their hypocrisy is on full display. But come on. The left wing does not have a monopoly on hypocrisy. Those of us on the right have enough hypocrisy of our own.
Now please hear me. I'm not saying that we're not standing on the right side of issues. I'm not saying that our views are not right. I'm not saying that we shouldn't take many of the stands that we take. I'm saying that when we apply the words of Jesus to ourselves, that the way we judge others condemns us, that the way we judge others, when that same judgment comes against us, that it exposes hypocrisy in our own lives.
Now, what's interesting, as I wrote this article, And I said it's going to ruffle feathers. And it has ruffled feathers. And I wrote it to be obedient to the burden of my heart, not to start trouble. But what I find interesting is, I've had other leaders say, this is the article that conservatives need to read. Conservative leaders.
One said he read it with tears and was passing it on to friends. friends.
So other pastors, other conservative social leaders have commended the article and different Christian leaders have commended the article, recognizing that we need to examine ourselves. And others have said, how dare you attack Trump? I didn't attack Trump. The article wasn't about Donald Trump. The article is not about Donald Trump.
And the moment that I raise an issue, that I express a concern that I'm showing my true liberal side. I was a never-Trumper and now I'm showing my true liberal side. Actually, I was not a never-Trumper. And I'm not a liberal, okay, in terms of the major social issues and things like that. I'm conservative.
But it's so interesting that people have such a hard time seeing their own blind spots. And I'm far from perfect in doing it, obviously. God forbid that I boast about I know all my blind spots. That would be folly to say that. But I want to say this.
I live in an environment where those closest to me are happy to tell me where they differ with me. or where they see I could do something better. My wife Nancy is my number one faithful loyal critic that will will get on me very strongly. And I mean, and love is my wife of almost 41 years now, but she'll just tell me, you're wrong. You just sound like those you criticize.
You're wrong. And then I'll go back and look at something. Maybe we posted something on Facebook and it could be easily misunderstood or it wasn't totally fair. It's like, honey, you're right. You're right.
So I'm in an environment where I don't have a lot of yes people around me in that respect. And I'm constantly debating in my mind. Meaning, if I say this, I want to explain I don't mean this. I don't want you to take me wrong. I want you to hear what I'm saying.
So you'll read an article and it'll always have caveats in it because I want to make plain. I'm not saying this. I am saying this.
So all that to say, I am constantly trying to examine things from different points of view and then others will help me to see my blind spots. But some of us don't want to be confronted at all.
Some of us are so right, we are absolutely right. I don't care if you're a raging liberal, if you're a flaming conservative, or somewhere in between, or on the outside. You've got to be willing to examine yourself By the same standards to which you hold others. You've got to be willing to be self-critical. You've got to be willing to say, okay, here, I'll give you an example.
Simple little example. You're driving down the street.
Alright, you're in the middle lane. You need to get over to the left lane. You look in your side view mirror, you don't see anybody, you slide into the left lane, and suddenly Somebody slams their horn on. Not They hit it two, three times. You just cut them off badly.
You didn't realize it, but you just cut them off badly. They were in your blind spot. You didn't see it. You swerved into the lane. I mean, you signaled, you moved into the lane, but.
You cut them off badly because you didn't see them. And what do you think? Hey, it was an accident. Don't slam on your horn, man. It was an accident.
Lady, I didn't mean to do that. It was an accident. All right, just calm down, calm down. That's what you're thinking, right?
Well, then someone does it to you. They cut in front of you because they didn't see you. You were in their blind spot, and you're laying on your horn. You're going to kill somebody. Man, you're going to kill somebody.
Later, you're going to kill somebody. What are you doing? Ah, that's what you call being a hypocrite. That's what you call having different standards. That's what you call condemning someone for something you justify in your own life.
I remember one time I was walking. through the airport. And as I'm walking, Some gal comes walking across Ryan. Right? Looks like an attractive lady.
I didn't check her out. I see her quickly. And as I'm looking ahead. I see Another guy, so he's walking towards me, she walks between us, and I see him look her up and down. And I thought, what an animal, man, you're a filthy animal, that is despicable.
What you're an unclean animal, man. That's the thought I had. And the thought hit me. You've never looked at anyone?
Well, hopefully I don't check them out looking head to toe like that. But you've never cast a lustful glance. I was just smit like the way you condemn that guy as an animal. As if you've never ever for a split second cast a wrong glance. Often we are easy on ourselves and we can demo this.
So I'm going to give you some examples of right-wing or conservative hypocrisy when we come back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
All right, are you ready to apply the sword of the Spirit to your own heart, your own life? We're using the words of Jesus, the standards of Jesus, that the way we judge others, we will be judged. This is Michael Brown. You are listening to the line of fire, your voice. of moral sanity and spiritual clarity.
Here are some examples that I give in my article, Left Wing Intolerance and Right Wing Hypocrisy. You can read it on thelineofire.org.
So here are some signs. Here's how we can test for right-wing hypocrisy or conservative hypocrisy. You're excited. that President Trump is issuing executive orders, but we're upset. when President Obama issued executive orders, calling it an abuse of power, or worse.
Now you might debate whose executive orders are right or wrong or good or bad, but if you remember, there were conservatives, Obama, all these executive orders, who does he think he is? And then President Trump comes in, like, yes, yes, take your authority.
Well, which is a little hypocrisy there, it seems. Or how about this? You believed every conspiratorial theory about Barack Obama. He's a Muslim. He's gay.
He's being groomed to be the Antichrist, or at least the leader of the New World Order. After eight years, he's not going to step down. He's going to enforce martial law and keep running the country. You believed every conspiratorial theory. But then anyone raises any issue about Donald Trump.
No, that's just wrong. That's false. Media is being unfair. Ah. How about President Obama?
He'd give a speech and you'd count how many times he said I. And you said he's a self-centered narcissist. That's what he is. He's freaky about himself and boasts about himself all the time. Donald Trump speaks about himself all the time.
You say, no, no, no, he's selfless. This is all for the good of the country. Ah, little little double standard there, maybe. You love to say when when conservative hosts like Rush and Hannity blasted President Obama 24-7. But you feel the press is being totally unfair to Trump.
You say, oh, oh, no, it's different. See, it's the mainstream media as a whole that's going after Trump, and it was just the conservative host going after Obama.
Well, on the flip side, these conservative hosts dominate talk radio. All right, so on the talk radio side, heavily conservative, that means Obama getting blasted day and night. You thought that was good. When it's Trump getting blasted day and night, you think it's unfair. Listen.
I'm not even discussing who's right or wrong or whose perspective I agree with or disagree with. Certainly, when I spoke about the President, President Obama, on the line of fire, it was primarily with a difference and with concern. But I was not an Obama basher. I was not a conservative talk radio host. I'm biblically based, and that's going to be my grid.
And I went out of my way not to criticize and attack all the time. There are other issues to discuss. And that was not my purpose being on radio. And I think that the media is being unfair to Trump in many ways.
Okay? I'm talking about our attitude. our attitude. How about this? The few times when the Republican-led Congress stonewalled President Obama.
You thought it was great. Good. Stand up against them. Act on your convictions. And when we were the minority, it's like, yeah, a little backbone.
Show a little backbone there. But when minority Democrats seek to Stonewall Trump, they're being hard-headed and closed-minded and stubborn. And can't those guys accept defeat and get on with things? Interesting. Interesting.
How about this? When the courts stood against the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, you hailed them. Good job. Way to go. Glad that you're thinking independently and not letting the president push this down our throats.
But when courts have stood against President Trump, How d how dare they? Who do they think they are? Interesting. That's just judicial activism. How about this?
You saw President Obama as a race-baiting agitator. and you saw him as guilty of inflaming ethnic and racial tensions. But you're outraged, outraged, when people call Trump a divisive racist. You say, yeah, yeah, but there's a big difference because President Obama said this, oh, okay. I understand that I think there were things he did that were race-baiting, that grieved me, with all respect to him being our president, that grieved me, and I felt we're race-baiting.
But I fully understand how people can feel that Donald Trump has been racially insensitive or said things that could raise issues and concern. All I'm saying again is our double standards, our double standards. How about, you know, political cartoons? Paint a picture of Barack Obama, almost make him look like a monkey with these giant ears, and you'd laugh. And here, of course, Donald Trump getting caricatured and the mop of hair.
They'd make him like orange colored. And you said, that's just wrong. That's just wrong. You have respect for the president. Oh, got it.
You didn't have respect for the president once President Obama. But now you want to have respect for the president when it's President Trump. How about this, that you made ugly jokes about First Lady Michelle Obama? He said, yeah, I mean, I'm even hurt. She's like, she's transgender.
She's actually a man who had sex changes as transgender. I mean, I'm not going to say that publicly, but that's what I've heard. He even wondered about that. But any negative comments about Melania Trump, that's off limits. The president's family is off limits.
Oh.
So first lady Michelle. She wasn't off limits, but First Lady Melania, she is off-limits. Or how about the celebrities, athletes who supported Obama or supported Hillary? What was your attitude? Mind your own business.
Who cares what you have to say? You don't know anything. You're some athlete or actor or some celebrity. Mind your own business. Stay out of politics.
But those that have stood up for Trump, at last, at last, a courageous actor, at last, a courageous athlete standing up for Donald Trump. I'm not saying who you should have or shouldn't have stood up for. I'm saying it's our double. Standard. How about this one when candidate Trump said that he would not guarantee that he would accept the results of the election.
If he lost, because maybe there's voter fraud or something like that. Hey, good for you, man. I'm glad you said it. But now when the Democrats have said, well, they don't accept the results, so they're challenging the results.
Well, what are the sore losers? They're sore losers. And imagine this. Imagine. If Hillary Clinton won the electoral vote, But Donald Trump won the popular vote.
How many of you would be saying, enough with the electoral vote, throw it out? I probably would have been saying, throw it out, enough with that. Come on, the man won the popular vote. He should be our president. But when it's the other way around, sore losers, sore losers.
How about maybe you've participated in boycotts against companies like Target because of their aggressive LGBT activism? And you think, yeah, we got to make people pay. If we differ, we're going to show it with our pocketbook. But then when liberals boycott conservatives or when liberals boycott Trump or things related to Trump. Shouldn't do that.
That's not right.
So look. I voted for Donald Trump. I did not vote for Barack Obama.
Okay? That's clear. I have concerns about where the Trump presidency is going, but I have hope that it could go in the right direction, and there are quite a few decisions he's made that I feel really good about. All I'm saying is let's Be even-handed. Let's search our hearts for hypocrisy.
Let us honor God by doing what's right with our attitude and with equal weights and equal measures. God hates unequal weights, unequal measures. And then, with a fair balance, then let's address the issues. And then we can do them with much more clarity and even with more authority. All right, have you downloaded?
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Send the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
Thank you so much for joining us on the line of fire today. Michael Brown, delighted to be with you after a great weekend of ministry in Saskatoon, Canada, the province of Saskatchewan. You know what's really interesting? I was in Detroit, Michigan, let's see, the previous weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, after being in Cary, North Carolina, the previous Sunday through Thursday.
So it's been kind of a non-stop time of ministry for a couple weeks plus now. But I was in Detroit, and the weather was probably in the teens when there. And then flew back home just for a few hours, and from there to Orlando, Florida. And Orlando, the temperature was in the 70s. And then went from Orlando straight to Saskatoon.
Well, three flights straight, but you know what I mean, straight. And it was an 80-degree difference in temperature from Orlando to Saskatoon. I had some beautiful snow up in Canada. And what's interesting is you got snow. covering the road snow coming down everyone's driving normally the the car is a four-wheel drive and everybody's everybody's driving normally and and uh you know things seem fine and i thought man when i lived in pensacola florida we had a half inch of snow once and that was a blizzard and that shut everything down and and you may live you know certain parts of the country now just a little bit of snow and not ready to handle it don't have the snow plows don't have the salting don't have the the the proper vehicles but Canada, I mean, I'm just watching, thinking cars would be skidding all over the road in other parts of the country where I've lived and just going along fine.
And thank God for health and strength to go from climate to climate, time zone to time zone, around the country, around the world and back. And thank you for helping me with your prayers. We are taking scripture. And applying it to our lives today. And we live in a high-pressured society.
I know life has always had its problems. I know life has always been challenging. Here, let's think back to a time when. Every week you were dependent on just getting enough sustenance to get through, or every day. And the men were out hunting for days or out fishing for weeks.
And if they didn't come back with an adequate haul or an adequate catch, no one's going to eat. And you're dependent on the rain at a certain time for the crops. And without that, you're going to die. And people get sick. and there are emotional problems and we have ups and downs relationally and there are weather issues.
So always, as long as we've been on the planet since man sinned, yeah, there has been pressure. But it's a different kind of pressure now in that there is the constant, constant, constant push. There's our digital society. There's the lives of the soccer moms. There's the balance in the extra jobs.
Even though we have so much and there's so much abundance, perhaps we live in an environment because of the constant go pace and the constant being wired. We don't have a cycle where it gets dark at night and you read by candlelight for a little while and then you go to sleep and you rise with the sun. We can be going all the time, all the time, all the time. And often we struggle with stress. Again, I'm sure stress has been here as long as the human race has been here after the fall.
But I want to give a practical word of advice from Scripture when we come back. And then I want to look at a question about... How to live in the fear of the Lord, what that actually means. In fact, I preached the whole message on that, a whole message on Sunday morning, my last message in Saskatchewan. We posted it on my Facebook page on Ask Dr.
Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown. In fact, it was broadcast live, and then we posted it as soon as it was done.
So you can go to my Facebook page and watch that in full. I think you'll be edified. But we come back. How do we live in the midst of the stress and the pressure and the constant demands, the on and on and on and on? one piece of bad news after another.
How do we live in a way that is peaceful? That lives in the moment and that greatly reduces stress and anxiety. How do we practically apply the Bible to? our lives. That's what we'll do.
We come back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH. Here again is Dr.
Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on today's line of fire broadcast as we start the week together in the word with practical wisdom. How do we deal with stress, pressure, with busy lives and busy schedules? Normally I thrive in the midst of a very busy lifestyle and daily radio and daily writing and often doing videotaping and then the other ministry responsibilities that come my way, life responsibilities. Most of us are very busy these days.
I tend to thrive in it, but somehow... I made some scheduling errors this year.
So I came back from Singapore, a full week in Singapore, a Monday to Monday, from traveling and getting back and ministry there. Then I had five days home. And then that Saturday following, I drove about two and a quarter hours. And I drove to Cary, North Carolina, and spoke Sunday morning, Sunday night, then did radio every day. and then spoke Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night.
After the meeting, Thursday night, so the night meeting ended. And then I drove back home, getting home about 11.30 at night, basically time to pack. Unpack, do radio, and and then uh fly to Detroit and then speak Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday morning in Detroit, fly back home, and then Monday do radio, and then fly to Orlando, Florida, and then prepare radio, record radio for the next day, and then do 16, 30 minute broadcasts, record them for God TV for our new word on fire broadcast.
So speak eight times Tuesday, eight times, talking about full-blown messages, eight times Tuesday, eight times Wednesday, then fly straight all the way three flights, 13, 14 hours to Saskatoon, do radio Friday day, speak Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, and then three flights, 13 hours to get home before being home for doing radio the next day, next day, then Thursday after radio, leaving for California, conference in California, and then flying home and then a few days, leave for Israel later in the month. And I was looking at this and I thought, oh, gosh, I made a mistake. How in the world did I do this back-to-back to back? I mean, Nancy and I talked and laughed about it. I mean, we're fine.
We have a wonderful relationship. Didn't intend to be away that much. And then getting back, Matt and I, our team, we have to do tons of videos and things like that in the few days home between trips. And I'm looking at it and thinking, oh, and I mentioned that. You could say, all right, Mike, here's my list.
Here's, here's, okay, so I understand we're busy. We can get under pressure. And I started to feel the weight of it. I normally don't. I normally don't, but I started to feel the weight of it.
And I started to think, wait, you're home 12 hours, and then you go again. And this trip, it's literally one after the other. You go straight from one place to the next. You don't even go home. And then in this.
Place. You got to do radio from here, then radio from there, and then preach eight times a day for two straight days. And I started to feel overwhelmed by it. I shouldn't say overwhelmed, burdened. and weighed down, which is highly unusual for me.
And what I knew I had to do. was operate in biblical principles. And here's one of the principles. And we'll break it down into common words one day at a time. One minute.
at a time. Think of what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6. He exhorts us, seek first the kingdom of God. And his righteousness. And all these things, meaning the material needs, the things we worry about in the natural, and what about this and what about that?
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and its righteousness and all These things will be added to you. And then he says, don't worry about tomorrow. King James says take no thought. It doesn't mean take no thought. It means don't worry.
Don't be anxious. Don't be anxious about time. tomorrow. All right? And tomorrow will take care of itself.
I mean, tomorrow's going to happen however it's going to happen. I could sit here and worry for six hours. uh about the weather tomorrow and it's not gonna affect the weather. You could be totally into a big sports event and you could sit here and worry about it for six hours and it's not going to affect what happens in that event tomorrow. You could have a job.
And you did your interview on Friday and now it's the weekend. And they're going to tell you on Monday whether you got the job interview or not. They made the decision already Friday, but they won't notify you until Sunday, until Monday. You can worry all weekend, but the decision was already made.
Okay? So, The point is Worry does not change the nature of what's going to happen the next day. It doesn't lift the burden. It doesn't make it any better. Nothing.
It's one thing to do strategic planning, but that's totally different than worry. And Jesus says, sufficient to the day. Is the evil thereof.
So, what we need to do is live in the moment. And just as sufficient to the day is the evil thereof, meaning there's enough trouble to deal with today. There are enough issues to deal with today on the flip side. If we do it's written in 1 Peter 5, Cast all your anxiety on the Lord, for he cares for... You.
Ah Oh. That is something I can do now. Take all of your concerns, all of your weights, bring them to the Lord and cast them on the Lord. Psalm 55, cast your burdens on the Lord, He will sustain you. Philippians 4, 6 and 7.
Don't worry about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication, make your request known to God with thanksgiving and the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding will guard your heart and mind through Messiah Jesus. Oh, a whole different perspective, a whole different attitude. What you do is this right now where you are. That's what you need to cast on the Lord. You've got anxiety, concerns for tomorrow.
Just give those to the Lord and take what you're doing right now. And you have grace to do that. You say, yeah, yeah, but you don't know what's coming next. Ah. When you get to the next thing, there will be grace for the next thing.
When you get to tomorrow, there will be grace for tomorrow. Here, picture it like this. Let's picture you like to do workouts, all right? You like to go to the gym and do workouts. And let's say you go to CrossFit, and every day they have a WAD, a workout of the day.
I've never worked out in a CrossFit, but I have friends that do it almost religiously, you could say, and they'll bring the workouts back and we'll do them in other settings.
So it's a pretty intense workout, and you hear it, you go, whoa, that's a rough workout today. That's really going to push us and challenge us.
Okay. But you get through it. You get through it well because you're in good shape.
Well, what if I showed you the next hundred wads? Yeah. hundred days. You'd look at it and think, oh, it's completely impossible. Yeah, because each day you have the strength of the new day, and maybe you have a day off in between working out, but when you see them all at the same time, it's impossible.
And that's how it is when we look ahead at the future. It's too much. It's too heavy. But what I just said to myself was, okay, okay, all right, just One Okay. at a time.
Can you handle getting ready to go preach now? Yeah. I think, okay, great. Can handle a Two and a half hour car ride going home. Yeah, all right.
Can you handle when you wake up in the morning packing for your next trip? Yeah, and do that. Can you handle preaching when you get to yeah, do that. And then each day, when I had to do now 16 messages in two days, eight messages per day, 30-minute broadcast, again for our new word on fire show that'll start airing on God TV in the beginning of March. Can you preach one message now?
Yeah, and preach one message. All right. Ready to preach another message? Ready to preach another message. It was no big deal.
It was not, oh my God, or this is. And then, all right, lunch break, slow down, rest a little bit, ready to keep going, ready to keep going. And then comes the night. I think I'm going to write.
Okay, I'm going to write. As opposed to, I have to write another article. I have to do this. I have to do that. And it's just amazing when you live in the moment.
And then you take that moment. And if there is pressure, if there is difficulty, just say, all right, Lord, I'm in this moment. I need your help now. He helps you right then.
So take a look Take the worry and anxiety about tomorrow. Cast that on the Lord and say, Lord, I'm concerned about this. I don't know what to do about this. I don't know how we're going to pay this bill in two weeks. I don't know what we're going to do with this, with this, with that, with that.
Cast it all. On the Lord. Give Him thanks for His faithfulness in the past. Give Him thanks for His kindness, His love, His grace, the ways He's come through in the past. Glorify Him, thank Him because He's always good and He's always righteous and He's always our Heavenly Father.
And then, wherever you are today, You can handle it. God will give you the grace to handle if you're doing His will. And living in obedience to him, he will not let anything come your way that will ultimately crush you. In the midst of the pain and pressure, even when it seems we get to the end of ourselves, his grace will prevail. And out of our weakness, Strength will be made perfect.
Hey friend, do this, it will extend your Life is. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown.
All right, we've got a few more minutes with you today on the line of fire. Hey, friends, if you missed any part of today's broadcast, go to the website, thelineoffire.org, just a few hours after the show and click on listen. You can listen to any part of the show that you missed. You can subscribe by podcast there. If you have our Ask Dr.
Brown app, again, available for all Android devices, available on your Android phones, on your Android tablets, then you just click on Line of Fire. And if the show is not live, then just click on Listen and it'll take you to the archives of the most recent shows. You'll also have at your fingertips all my latest articles, all of my latest videos, any special resource offers that are being posted, all there.
So you want to get the app. It's free. It's a great, great resource. And again, you can listen to two hours of the line of fire every single day. If you're.
If locally you get a half hour or an hour, you can listen to all two hours live wherever you are within cell phone range. You can do that or Wi-Fi via your computer or tablet. But with the app right at your fingertips, that's Ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown. Let me make one last practical application of scripture today.
And we know from Proverbs and elsewhere that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But often we don't know what that means and we don't really know what the fear of the Lord is. On this Monday broadcast, we're looking at scripture and making practical application in our lives.
So what exactly is the fear of the Lord? What do we mean by the fear of the Lord? There's a tendency these days, and it's been for some years. uh a reaction against a legalistic religious traditional hyper fear that is non-relational. As if God is just some ogre to be dreaded.
And oh no, you make one wrong move and he crushes you. One wrong move and you're dead. and we've swung to this hyper familiarity side. We've swung to this side of, hey, big daddy, the man upstairs, kind of thing, and there's no holy reverence. and such an emphasis on intimacy that there is no more reverence.
And the the biblical truth is wonderful and powerful. It is not a servile fear that we have. 1 John 4 says that perfect love casts out fear. Fear has torment. There's the fear of punishment and the fear that, say, a kid has of an alcoholic dad when he reaches out for me.
Is he going to hit me or is he going to hug me? That's not the fear that we have of God or the fear that a servant has cowering in a corner. Is his master going to whip him again? That's not the fear that we have. Perfect love casts that out.
But you better believe that we have a reverential awe. You better believe that we recognize who God is and we don't play games with him. And this is not just the truth of the Old Testament, but of the New Testament as well. And it even says in Acts the 9th chapter that the church enjoyed a time of great peace. This is after Saul of Tarsus becomes a believer in Jesus the Messiah.
And it says that they were living in the fear of the Lord. This is a good thing. This is a healthy thing.
So I want to give you quickly three aspects of the fear of the Lord. To watch my whole message on it was recorded as I preached in Saskatoon yesterday, Sunday morning. To listen to the entire message, go to my Facebook page, ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown on Facebook. Make sure you like the page if you're not connected with us already there.
Join our half million plus family on Facebook. It's a great place to learn, to grow, to interact, to be challenged, to be equipped. But go there. The whole message is posted. I think you'll be edified and helped and blessed by it.
But number one, the fear of God starts with a recognition of who he is, an all-holy, all-powerful, all-just, all-righteous God. And when God came down on Mount Sinai and revealed himself as a consuming fire, and his voice so terrified the people, they said to Moses, you speak to us. If he speaks to us, we're going to die. We're all going to die. Just hearing his voice was too intense.
It was too much. Think of it. Moses says to the people in Exodus, the 20th chapter: don't fear. God has come. To put his fear before you so that you will not sin.
Don't fear, God has come to test you and to put his fear before you so you won't sin. It's the same Hebrew root.
Some translations say, don't be afraid. God's put his fear before you. But it's the same Hebrew root, fear, fear. Don't fear, meaning he's not here to kill you. He's not here to destroy you.
Don't fear in that way. Yes, don't be afraid. But Have a right fear. Understand who he is. His fear is here, so you won't sin against him.
I don't want to sin against that God. Because that God can back his word. I don't want to sin against that God, because that God is perfectly just. I don't want to sin against that God, because that God can destroy both soul and body in hell. Therefore I recognize who he is And in light of that, In light of that, I live a life that is circumspect.
This is a theme, Old Testament and New.
Now think of it. Through the blood of Jesus, we have been washed clean and we have been made holy so that we can come into the holy presence of God.
Now, as a result of that, much has been given to us, much is required of us, and we are called to live out a holy life.
So, it's number one: the recognition of who he is. This is the beginning of the fear of the Lord. Number two, living a life that pleases him. To walk in the fear of the Lord means knowing who he is, I live before him circumspectly. Oh, not with the fear of if I make one mistake, he's going to get me.
I think one wrong thought, he's going to get me. No, no, no. Our Father's heart is set on us with deep, everlasting love. Our Father's heart is set on us with an intense love, even more than we could imagine. Even more than, look, the greatest love we have for our kids, God's love is greater.
The greatest love we have for our spouses, God's love is greater. That is his attitude towards us. That is his mindset towards us. And because of his love and because of his holiness, we now look at our love. Live a life that pleases him.
Psalm 34 says, I will teach you the fear of the Lord, meaning how to live in the sight of God. And then thirdly, Proverbs 14 tells us that the fear of the Lord is a strong tower, that the fear of the Lord is a place of security. What does it mean? It means when I live that life in his presence, when I live that life in godly fear, when I live a life honoring him, I'm safe. I'm secure.
I liken it to a spotlight. That spotlight shines down in the darkness. You can't see anything around you. But that spotlight, that's like God's light, God's law, God's ways, God's goodness, God's grace. When I walk in that, So I live that life pleasingly in the sight, I'm safe.
I'm secure. I'm at rest because I'm living in the light of God's presence. Walk in the fear of the Lord, my friend, and you too will be blessed. Remember to check out my latest articles and videos. Go to thelineoffire.org and explore the digital library.
Be sure to download the Ask Dr. Brown app for Android. Hopefully, any day available for Apple. My bottom line today: when we live by the word of the living God, we are blessed in this world and the world to come. We are going to take the word of God and make practical application in our lives today, right here.
on the line of fire. Uh It's time for the line of fire with your host, activist, author, international speaker, and theologian, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Michael Brown is the director of the Coalition of Conscience and President of Fire School of Ministry. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34-TRUTH.
That's 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Hey friends, welcome to our Monday edition of The Line of Fire. I hope you had a good weekend.
I had a wonderful time preaching in Canada in Saskatoon Friday night, then a leaders meeting Saturday morning, then Saturday night, then Sunday morning. And it's always great to be among folks who are hungry and thirsty for the things of God and who want you to get up from the pulpit and speak the truth. I've got to be honest with you. I don't get invited places that don't want me to speak the truth. I don't get invited places that aren't hungry for the word of God.
But it's always a delight I've had week after week now of preaching in this new year and so many places where people want you to tell it like it is and open up the scriptures. And they don't want their ears tickled. And they don't want their flesh coddled. They want truth. And they want truth regardless of cost or consequence.
That's the environment that I love to be in. Hey, I just want to mention this. And then what we're going to do today, I'm not taking calls, but what I want to do today is I want to. Get into scriptures. And look at a number of Scriptural principles that are super relevant for life today, and talk them through with you.
And hopefully, this will be a great way to start your week. Together, we can start it here on the line of fire. But just want to mention to you that if you feel called to gospel ministry, maybe called to the mission field, maybe called to plant churches. Not just to go to a seminary to grow in knowledge of the word or a Bible college to grow in knowledge of the word, but you feel specifically called. You want to be trained to go out and do ministry work, be a missionary, be a church planter, be an evangelist.
That's your burden. You want a place where you can be intensively immersed and challenged and strengthened in the word and strengthened and trained in practical ministry. Consider fire school of Ministry. This is a focused, intense three-year program. The third year is half internship, half practical classes and mentoring.
And you'll be in an environment, a focused environment where others have like heart. You're not going to be in a campus of multiplied thousands or many hundreds of students, but a focused environment where you're trained, equipped. I teach on a weekly basis. We have a phenomenal faculty. We have hands-on ministry that can be done.
You will be impacted and you can join our team of world changers serving around America and around the world. You've got to be at least 18. You've got to be a serious believer. We've had students graduating in their 70s. We've had students graduating in their 20s.
But you've got to be a serious believer. You've got to be committed to the Lord and you've got to sense a calling on your life. To do ministry work. If that's you, go to our website, fire-school. Fire-school.org to find out more.
By God's grace, we're planting schools in other parts of the world. We have a full-time school and a part-time school in Cameroon, Africa. We have a full-time school in Rotterdam, in Holland, we have a full-time school in the Philippines, and we're looking to open up schools with our grads in other parts of the world. We have a school with a special inner-city focus in Chicago, and I was. in Saskatoon preaching about revival and talking about the great things God does in revival.
Well, these schools that are growing around the world, our missions work that is growing around the world, people that have been on the mission field now over 15 years, bearing fruit, planting churches, caring for orphans, caring for widows, making a difference in their communities around the world and in America as well. This is long-term fruit of a revival that took place in Pensacola, Florida, 1995 to 2000. The fruit remains, the fruit continues. Even me carrying the burden that I carry and being on the air with you today, this is still ongoing fruit of a larger move of God. All right, we'll come back and get into the word.
Change the world inspire we want Oh fire we Mm. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34 TRUTH. Here again is Dr.
Michael Brown. All right, let's dig into the scriptures together. Let's make practical application of the word of God in our lives, and let's do it. In the midst of controversy, let's apply the word to our own hearts in the midst of the political non-stop heat controversy in which we find ourselves today with our new president and with the critics of our new president. This is Michael Brown.
You're listening to the line of fire. Let's... Put the word of God into practice, and let's read the words of Jesus. Matthew chapter 7, very, very familiar words to most followers of Jesus. He says this.
Do not judge. or you too will be judged. for in the same way you judge others, You will be judged. And with the measure you use, It will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye?
and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother, Let me take this spec out of your eye. when all the time there is a plank in your own eye. You hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye.
and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
Alright, so I preached in Saskatoon, Canada Friday night, got back to my hotel room, and was burdened to write. And I wrote an article that you can read on our website on thelineofire.org entitled Left Wing Intolerance and Right Wing Hypocrisy. Ooh. In other words, I was looking for hypocrisy on my side of the fence, in my life, among those of us that consider ourselves conservative. Or right-leaning.
You may be Republican, you may not. You may have voted for Donald Trump, you may not. But overall, you put yourself in the conservative, right-leaning class, which would be the great majority of my listeners, and my readers, and my viewers. I just I I see this all too often. Certainly, I see it constantly on the side of the left.
And I address it constantly. And what makes it galling is that the left is claiming to be so tolerant. Oh, we're the tolerant ones. We're the progressive ones. We're the open-minded ones.
We're the liberal ones. They don't see. the degree of intolerance and small-mindedness. I was reading an article in the New York Post by a guy who says that he's gay and now coming out as conservative. And that he did an interview with a controversial gay conservative leader and got vilified for it.
All he did was seek to present the guy fairly, got vilified for it, mocked and attacked and people cutting him off and unfriending him and wouldn't talk to him and avoiding him. And he thought, wow, these are all the liberals. These are all the liberals. These are all the people on the left and they're vicious and they're ugly and they're small-minded. And he realized that's not who he wanted to be associated with.
So, I mean, left-wing intolerance has been on full display. in recent months.
So you had the riots against free speech in Berkeley, Berkeley University, the home of the free speech movement, right? You got the boycotts of Trump-related fashion.
So designers who said they're not going to work with Milania and stores that are dropping Ivanka's line. And these are the very people that vilify us when you have, say, a Christian baker who says, hey, in good conscience, I'll serve you. I'll buy cookies, buy cakes, do whatever, but I can't violate my conscience and make a wedding cake for something I don't agree with. And if it's two men getting mad, I don't agree with that. It violates my religious beliefs.
I can't do it.
So we get vilified for that and attacked for that. People take us to court. People lose businesses. Over that, Christians have lost businesses and income and over that. But the left has no problem to say, well, we're going to drop this line.
They're going to reject this and reject that. Amazing. Amazing intolerance. And you have entertainers who receive credible death threats if they performed at the inauguration of Donald Trump to other entertainers getting blacklisted for performing.
So the intolerance of the left, the so-called tolerant ones, the enlightened ones, the progressive, open-minded ones, their intolerance is absolutely galling. And that means their hypocrisy is on full display. But come on. The left wing does not have a monopoly on hypocrisy. Those of us on the right have enough hypocrisy.
of our own.
Now please hear me. I'm not saying that we're not standing on the right side of issues. I'm not saying that our views are not right. I'm not saying that we shouldn't take many of the stands that we take. I'm saying that when we apply the words of Jesus to ourselves, that the way we judge others condemns us.
That the way we judge others, when that same judgment comes against us, that it exposes hypocrisy in our own lives.
Now, what's interesting. As I wrote this article. And I said it's gonna ruffle feathers. And it has ruffled feathers. And I wrote it to be obedient to the burden of my heart, not to start trouble.
But what I find interesting is I've had other leaders say this is the article that conservatives need to read. Conservative leaders one said he read it with tears and was passing it on to friends.
So other pastors, other conservative social leaders have commended the article and different different Christian leaders have commended the article, recognizing that we need to examine ourselves. And others have said, How dare you attack Trump? I didn't attack Trump. The article wasn't about Donald Trump. The article is not about Donald Trump.
And the moment that I raise an issue, that I express a concern that I'm showing my true liberal side. I was a never-Trumper and now I'm showing my true liberal side. Actually, I was not a never-Trumper. And I'm not a liberal, okay, in terms of the major social issues and things like that. I'm conservative.
But it's so interesting that people have such a hard time seeing their own blind spots. And I'm far from perfect in doing it, obviously. God forbid that I boast about I know all my blind spots. That would be folly to say that. But but I want to say this.
I live in an environment where those closest to me are happy to tell me where they differ with me. or where they see I could do something better. My wife Nancy is my number one faithful loyal critic that will will get on me very strongly. And I mean, and love is my wife of almost 41 years now, but she'll just tell me, you're wrong. You just sound like those you criticize.
You're wrong. And then I'll go back and look at something. Maybe we posted something on Facebook and it could be easily misunderstood or it wasn't totally fair. It's like, honey, you're right. You're right.
So I'm in an environment where I don't have a lot of yes people around me in that respect. And I'm constantly debating in my mind. Meaning, if I say this, I want to explain I don't mean this. I don't want you to take me wrong. I want you to hear what I'm saying.
So you'll read an article and it'll always have caveats in it because I want to make plain. I'm not saying this. I am saying this.
So all that to say. I am constantly trying to examine things from different points of view and then others will help me to see my blind spots. But some of us don't want to be confronted at all.
Some of us are so right, we are absolutely right. I don't care if you're a raging liberal, if you're a flaming conservative, or somewhere in between, or on the outside. You've got to be willing by the same standards to which you hold others. You've got to be willing to be self-critical. You've got to be willing to say, okay, here, I'll give you an example.
Simple little example. You're driving down the street.
All right, you're in the middle lane, you need to get over to the left lane. You look in your side view mirror, you don't see anybody, you slide into the left lane, and suddenly somebody slams their horn on. Not They hit it two, three times. You just cut them off badly. You didn't realize it, but you just cut them off badly.
They were in your blind spot. You didn't see it. You swerved into the lane. I mean, you signaled, you moved into the lane, but. You cut them off badly because you didn't see them.
And what do you think? Hey, it was an accident. Don't slam on your horn, man. It was an accident. Lady, I didn't mean to do that.
It was an accident. All right, just calm down, calm down. That's what you're thinking, right?
Well, then someone does it to you. They cut in front of you because they didn't see you. You were in their blind spot, and you're laying on your horn. You're going to kill somebody. Man, you're going to kill somebody.
Lady, you're going to kill somebody. What are you doing? Ah, that's what you call being a hypocrite. That's what you call having different standards. That's what you call condemning someone for something you justify in your own life.
I remember one time I was walking. through the airport. And as I'm walking, Some gal comes walking across Raya. Right? Looks like an attractive lady.
I didn't check her out. I see her quickly. And as I'm looking ahead. I see uh another guy, so he's walking towards me, she walks between us, and I see him look her up and down, and I thought, What an animal, man, you're a filthy animal, that is despicable. What?
You're an unclean animal, man. That's the thought I had. And the thought hit me, you've never looked at anyone?
Well, hopefully I don't check them out, look at them head to toe like that, but you've never cast a lustful glance. I was just smit like the way you condemn that guy as an animal. As if you've never ever for a split second cast a wrong glance. Often we are easy on ourselves and we can demo others.
So I'm going to give you some examples. of right-wing or conservative hypocrisy when we come back. God of light, hear our cry, send the fire. Line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown.
Your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. All right, are you ready to apply the sword of the Spirit to your own heart, your own life? We're using the words of Jesus, the standards of Jesus, that the way we judge others, we will be judged.
This is Michael Brown. You are listening to the line of fire, your voice of moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Here are some examples that I give in my article, Left-Wing Intolerance and Right-Wing Hypocrisy. You can read it on thelineofire.org.
So here are some signs. Here's how we can test for right-wing hypocrisy or conservative hypocrisy. You're excited. that President Trump is issuing executive orders, but we're upset. when President Obama issued executive orders, calling it an abuse of power, or worse.
Now you might debate whose executive orders are right or wrong or good or bad, but if you remember, there were conservatives, Obama, all these executive orders, who does he think he is? And then President Trump comes in like, yes, yes, take your authority. Which is a little hypocrisy there, it seems. Or how about this? You believed every conspiratorial theory about Barack Obama.
He's amongst them. He's gay. He's being groomed to be the Antichrist, or at least the leader of the New World Order. After eight years, he's not going to step down. He's going to enforce martial law and keep running the country.
And you believed every conspiratorial theory. But then anyone raises any issue about Donald Trump. No, no, no, that's just wrong. That's false. Media is being unfair.
Ah. How about President Obama? He'd give a speech and you'd count how many times he said I. And you said he's a self-centered narcissist. That's what he is.
He's speaking about himself and boasts about himself all the time. Donald Trump speaks about himself all the time. You say, no, no, no, he's selfless. This is all for the good of the country. Ah little double standard there, maybe.
You love to say when conservative hosts like Rush and Hannity blasted President Obama 24-7. But you feel the press is being totally unfair to Trump. You say, oh, oh, no, it's different. See, it's the mainstream media as a whole that's going after Trump, and it was just the conservative host going after Obama.
Well, on the flip side, these conservative hosts dominate talk radio. All right, so on the talk radio side, heavily conservative, that means Obama getting blasted day and night. You thought that was good. When it's Trump getting blasted day and night, you think it's unfair. Listen.
I'm not even discussing who's right or wrong or whose perspective I agree with or disagree with. Certainly, when I spoke about the president, President Obama on line of fire, it was primarily with a difference and with concern. But I was not an Obama basher. I was not a conservative talk radio host. I'm biblically based, and that's going to be my grid.
And I went out of my way not to criticize and attack all the time. There are other issues to discuss. And that was not my purpose being on radio. And I think that the media is being unfair to Trump in many ways.
I'm talking about our attitude. our attitude. How about this? The few times when the Republican-led Congress stonewalled President Obama. You thought it was great.
Good. Stand up against them. Act on your convictions. And when we were the minority, it's like, yeah, a little backbone. Show a little backbone there.
But when minority Democrats seek to stonewall Trump, they're being hard-headed and closed-minded and stubborn. And can't those guys accept defeat and get on with things? Interesting. Interesting. How about this?
When the courts stood against the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, you hailed them. Good job. Way to go. Glad that you're thinking independently and not letting the president push this down our throats. But when courts have stood against President Trump, How d how dare they?
Who do they think they are? Interesting. That's just judicial activism. How about this? You saw President Obama as a race-baiting agitator and you saw him as guilty of inflaming ethnic and racial tensions.
But you're outraged, outraged, when people call Trump a divisive racist. You say, yeah, yeah, but there's a big difference because President Obama said this, oh, okay. I understand that I think there were things he did that were race-baiting that grieved me. with all respect to him being our president, that grieved me and I felt we're race-baiting. But I fully understand how people can feel that Donald Trump has been racially insensitive or said things that could raise issues and concern.
All I'm saying again is our double standards, our double standards. How about political cartoons? Paint a picture of Barack Obama, almost make him look like a monkey with these giant ears and you'd laugh. And here, of course, Donald Trump getting caricatured and the mop of hair or they make him like orange colored and you said, that's just wrong. That's just wrong.
You have respect for the president. Oh, got it. You didn't have respect for the president once President Obama. But now you want to have respect for the president once President Trump. How about this, that you made ugly jokes about First Lady Michelle Obama?
He said, yeah, I mean, I'm even hurt. She's like, she's transgender. She's actually a man who had sex change. It was transgender. I mean, I'm not going to say that publicly, but that's what I've heard.
He even wondered about that. But any negative comments about Melania Trump, that's off limits. The president's family's off limits. Oh.
So First Lady Michelle. She wasn't off limits, but First Lady Melania, she is off limits. Or how about the celebrities, athletes who supported Obama or supported Hillary? What was your attitude? Mind your own business.
Who cares what you have to say? You don't know anything. You're some athlete or actor or celebrity. Mind your own business. Stay out of politics.
But those that have stood up for Trump, at last, at last, a courageous actor, at last, a courageous athlete standing up for Donald Trump. I'm not saying who you should have or shouldn't have stood up for. I'm saying it's our double standard. Standard. How about this one?
When candidate Trump said that he would not guarantee that he would accept the results of the election. If he lost, because maybe there's voter fraud or something like that. Hey, good for you, man. I'm glad you said it. But now when the Democrats have said, well, they don't accept the results or they're challenging the results.
Well, the sore losers. They're sore losers. And imagine this. Imagine. If Hillary Clinton won the electoral vote, But Donald Trump won the popular vote.
How many of you would be saying, enough with the electoral vote, throw it out? I probably would have been saying, throw it out, enough with that. Come on, the man won the popular vote. He should be our president. But when it's the other way around, sore losers, sore losers.
How about maybe you've participated in boycotts? against companies like Target because of their aggressive LGBT activism. And you think, yeah, we gotta make people pay. If we differ, we're gonna show it with our pocketbook. But then when liberals uh boycott uh conservatives or when liberals boycott Trump or things related to Trump.
Well shouldn't do that. That's not right.
So look. I voted for Donald Trump. I did not vote for Barack Obama.
Okay? That's clear. I have concerns about where the Trump presidency is going, but I have hope that it could go in the right direction. And there are quite a few decisions he's made that I feel really good about. All I'm saying is, let's.
Be even-handed. Let's search our hearts for hypocrisy. Let us honor God by doing what's right with our attitude and with equal weights and equal measures. God hates unequal weights, unequal measures. And then, with a fair balance, then let's address the issues.
And then we can do them with much more clarity and even with more authority. All right, have you downloaded? our app for Android phones and Android devices for Ask Dr. Brown. If not, you've got to do it.
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Gains the world O God of burning, cleansing. Flame, send the fire. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr.
Michael Brown. Thank you so much for joining us on the line of fire today. Michael Brown, delighted to be with you after a great weekend of ministry in Saskatoon, Canada, the province of Saskatchewan. You know what's really interesting? I was in Detroit, Michigan, let's see, the previous weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, after being in Cary, North Carolina the previous Sunday through Thursday.
So it's been kind of a non-stop time of ministry for a couple weeks plus now. But I was in Detroit, and the weather was probably in the teens when there. And then flew back home just for a few hours and from there to Orlando, Florida. And Orlando, the temperature was in the 70s. And then went from Orlando straight to Saskatoon.
Well, three flights straight, but you know what I mean, straight. And it was an 80-degree difference in temperature from Orlando to Saskatoon. Had some beautiful snow up in Canada. And what's interesting is you got snow. Covering the road, snow coming down.
Everyone's driving normally. The the car is four-wheel drive, and everybody's driving normally, and and uh, you know, things seem fine. And I thought, man, When I lived in Pensacola, Florida, we had a half inch of snow once, and that was a blizzard, and that shut everything down. And you may live, you know, certain parts of the country now, just a little bit of snow and not ready to handle it. Don't have the snow plows, don't have the salting, don't have the proper vehicles.
But Canada, I mean, I'm just watching, thinking cars would be skidding all over the road in other parts of the country where I've lived and just going along fine. And thank God for health and strength to go from climate to climate, time zone to time zone, around the country, around the world, and back. And thank you for helping me with your prayers. We are taking scripture. and applying it to our lives today.
And we live in a high pressured society. I know life has always had its problems. I know life has always been challenging. Here, let's think back to a time when. Every week you were dependent on just getting enough sustenance to get through, or every day.
And the men were out hunting for days or out fishing for weeks, and if they didn't come back with an adequate haul or an adequate catch, no one's going to eat. And you're dependent on the rain at a certain time for the crops, and without that, you're going to die. And people get sick. and there are emotional problems and we have ups and downs relationally and there are weather issues.
So always, as long as we've been on the planet since man sinned, yeah, there has been pressure. But it's a different kind of pressure now in that there is the constant, constant, constant push. There's our digital society. There's the lives of the soccer moms. There's the balance in the extra jobs.
Even though we have so much and there's so much abundance, perhaps we live in an environment because of the constant go pace and the constant being wired. We don't have a cycle where it gets dark at night and you read by candlelight for a little while and then you go to sleep and you rise with the sun. We can be going all the time, all the time, all the time. And often we struggle with stress. Again, I'm sure stress has been here as long as the human race has been here after the fall.
But I want to give a practical word of advice from Scripture when we come back. And then I want to look at a question about... How to live in the fear of the Lord, what that actually means. In fact, I preached the whole message on that, a whole message on Sunday morning, my last message in Saskatchewan. We posted it on my Facebook page on Ask Dr.
Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown. In fact, it was broadcast live, and then we posted it as soon as it was done.
So you can go to my Facebook page and watch that in full. I think you'll be edified. But we come back. How do we live in the midst of the stress and the pressure and the constant demands, the on and on and on and on and one piece of bad news after another? How do we live in a way that is peaceful?
That lives in the moment and that greatly reduces stress and anxiety. How do we practically apply the Bible to? our lives that's what we'll do we come at you It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get into the line of fire now by calling 866-34TRUTH.
Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us on today's line of fire broadcast as we start the week together in the word with practical wisdom. How do we deal with stress, pressure, with busy lives and busy schedules? Normally, I thrive in the midst of a very busy lifestyle and daily radio and daily writing and often doing videotaping and then the other ministry responsibilities that come my way, life responsibilities.
Most of us are very busy these days. I tend to thrive in it, but Somehow I made some scheduling errors this year.
So I came back from Singapore, a full week in Singapore, a Monday to Monday from traveling and getting back and ministry there. Then I had five days home and then that Saturday following, I drove about two and a quarter hours, and I drove to Cary, North Carolina, and spoke Sunday morning, Sunday night, then did radio every day. and then spoke Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night. After the meeting, Thursday night, so the night meeting ended. And then I drove back home, getting home about 11.30 at night, basically time to pack, unpack, do radio, and then fly to Detroit, and then speak Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday morning in Detroit, fly back home, and then Monday do radio, and then fly to Orlando, Florida.
prepare radio, record radio for the next day, and then do 16, 30 minute broadcasts, record them for God TV for our new Word on Fire broadcast.
So speak eight times Tuesday, eight times, talking about full-blown messages, eight times Tuesday, eight times Wednesday, then fly straight all the way three flights, 13, 14 hours to Saskatoon, do radio Friday days, speak Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, and then three flights, 13 hours to get home before being home for doing radio the next day, next day, then Thursday after radio, leaving for California, conference in California, and then flying home and then a few days leave for Israel later in the month. And I was looking at this and I thought, oh, gosh, I made a mistake. How in the world did I do this back-to-back to back? I mean, Nancy and I talked and laughed about it. I mean, we're fine.
We have a wonderful relationship. didn't intend to be away that much. And then getting back, Matt and I, our team, we have to do tons of videos and things like that in the few days home between trips. And I'm looking at it and thinking, oh, and I mentioned that. You could say, all right, Mike, here's my list.
Here's, here's, okay, so I understand we're busy. We can get under pressure. And I started to feel the weight of it. I normally don't. I normally don't, but I started to feel the weight of it.
And I started to think, wait, you're home 12 hours, and then you go again. And this trip, it's literally one after the other. You go straight from one place to the next. You don't even go home. And then in this.
Place, you got to do radio from here, then radio from there, and then preach eight times a day for two straight days. And I started to feel overwhelmed by it. I shouldn't say overwhelmed. burdened and weighed down, which is highly unusual for me. And what I knew I had to do was operate in biblical principles.
And here's one of the principles. And we'll break it down into common words one day at a time. One minute. at a time. Think of what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6.
He exhorts us, seek first the kingdom of God. And his righteousness. And all these things, meaning the material needs, the things we worry about in the natural, and what about this, and what about that? Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and its righteousness and all These things will be added to you. And then he says, don't worry about tomorrow.
King James says take no thought. It doesn't mean take no thought. It means don't worry. Don't be anxious. Don't be anxious about tomorrow.
All right? And tomorrow will take care of itself, meaning tomorrow's gonna happen however it's gonna happen. I could sit here and worry for for six hours. about the weather tomorrow and it's not gonna affect the weather. You could be totally into a big sports event and you could sit here and worry about it for six hours and it's not going to affect what happens in that event tomorrow.
You could have a job. And you did your interview on Friday, and now it's the weekend. And they're going to tell you on Monday whether you got the job interview or not. They made the decision already Friday, but they won't notify you until Sunday, until Monday. You can worry all weekend, but the decision was already made.
The point is Worry does not change the nature of what's going to happen the next day. It doesn't lift the burden. It doesn't make it any better. Nothing. It's one thing to do strategic planning, but that's totally different than worry.
And Jesus says, sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.
So what we need to do is live in the moment. And just as sufficient to the day is the evil thereof, meaning there's enough trouble to deal with today. There are enough issues to deal with today on the flip side. If we do it's written in 1 Peter 5, Cast all your anxiety on the Lord, for he cares for... You.
Ah. Oh.
That is something I can do now. Take all of your concerns, all of your weights, bring them to the Lord and cast them on the Lord. Psalm 55, cast your burdens on the Lord, He will sustain you. Philippians 4, 6 and 7, don't worry about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication, make your request known to God with thanksgiving, and the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding will guard your heart and mind through Messiah Jesus. Oh A whole different perspective, a whole different attitude.
So. What you do is this. Right now, where you are. That's what you need to cast on the Lord. You've got anxiety, concerns for tomorrow.
Just give those to the Lord and take what you're doing right now. And you have grace to do that. You say, Yeah, yeah, but you don't know what's coming next. Ah. When you get to the next thing, there will be grace for the next thing.
When you get to tomorrow, there will be grace for tomorrow. Here, picture it like this. Let's picture you like to do workouts, all right? You like to go to the gym and do workouts. And let's say you go to CrossFit, and every day they have a WAD, a workout of the day.
I've never worked out in a CrossFit, but I have friends that do it almost religiously, you could say, and they'll bring the workouts back and we'll do them in other settings.
So it's a pretty intense workout, and you'd hear it, you go, whoa, that's a rough workout today. That's really going to push us and challenge us.
Okay. But you get through it. You get through it well because you're in good shape.
Well, what if I showed you the next hundred wads for the next hundred days? You'd look at it and think, oh, it's completely impossible. Yeah, because each day you have the strength of the new day, and maybe you have a day off in between working out, but when you see them all at the same time, it's impossible. And that's how it is when we look ahead at the future. It's too much.
It's too heavy. But what I just said to myself was: okay, okay, all right, just. One Day. at a time. Can you handle getting ready to go preach now?
Yeah. And yeah, okay, great. Can handle a Two and a half hour car ride going home. Yeah, all right. Can you handle when you wake up in the morning packing for your next trip?
Yeah, undo that. Can you handle preaching when you get there? Yeah, do that. And then each day, when I had to do now 16 messages in two days, eight messages per day, 30-minute broadcast again for our new word-on-fire show that will start airing on God TV in the beginning of March. Can you preach one message now?
Yeah, and preach one message. All right. Ready to preach another message? Ready to preach another message? It was no big deal.
It was not, oh my God, or this is. And then, all right, lunch break, slow down, rest a little bit, ready to keep going, ready to keep going. And then comes the night. I think I'm going to write.
Okay, I'm going to write. As opposed to, I have to write another article. I have to do this. I have to do that. And it's just amazing when you live in the moment and then you take that moment.
And if there is pressure, if there is difficulty, just say, all right, Lord, I'm in this moment. I need your help now. He helps you right then.
So take Take the worry and anxiety about tomorrow. Cast that on the Lord and say, Lord, I'm concerned about this. I don't know what to do about this. I don't know how we're going to pay this bill in two weeks. I don't know what we're going to do with this, with this, with that, with that.
Cast it all. On the Lord. Give Him thanks for His faithfulness in the past. Give Him thanks for His kindness, His love, His grace, the ways He's come through in the past. Glorify Him, thank Him because He's always good and He's always righteous and He's always our Heavenly Father.
And then, wherever you are today, You can handle it. God will give you the grace to handle it. If you're doing His will and living in obedience to Him, He will not let anything come your way that will ultimately crush you. In the midst of the pain and pressure, even when it seems we get to the end of ourselves, His grace will prevail. And out of our weakness, Strength will be made perfect.
Hey, friend, do this, it will extend your. Like Yeah. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown, your voice of moral, cultural, and spiritual revolution. Here again is Dr.
Michael Brown. All right, we've got a few more minutes with you today on the line of fire. Hey friends, if you missed any part of today's broadcast, go to the website thelineoffire.org, just a few hours after the show and click on listen. You can listen to any part of the show that you missed. You can subscribe by podcast there.
If you have our Ask Dr. Brown app, again, available for all Android devices, available on your Android phones, on your Android tablets, then you just click on Line of Fire. And if the show is not live, then just click on Listen and it'll take you to the archives of the most recent shows. You'll also have at your fingertips all my latest articles, all of my latest videos, any special resource offers that are being posted, all there.
So you want to get the app. It's free. It's a great, great resource. And again, you can listen to two hours of the line of fire every single day. If you're.
If locally you get a half hour or an hour, you can listen to all two hours live wherever you are within cell phone range. You can do that or Wi-Fi via your computer or tablet. But with the app right at your fingertips, that's Ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown. Let me make one last practical application of scripture today.
And we know from Proverbs and elsewhere that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But often we don't know what that means and we don't really know what the fear of the Lord is. On this Monday broadcast, we're looking at scripture and making practical application in our lives.
So what exactly is the fear of the Lord? What do we mean by the fear of the Lord? There's a tendency these days, and it's been for some years. uh a reaction against a legalistic religious traditional hyper fear that is non-relational. as if God is just some ogre to be dreaded and oh no, you make one wrong move and he crushes you.
One wrong move and you're dead. And we've swung to this hyper-familiarity side. We've swung to this side of, hey, big daddy, the man upstairs, kind of thing, and there's no holy reverence. and such an emphasis on intimacy that there is no more reverence. And the the biblical truth is wonderful and powerful.
It is not a servile fear that we have. 1 John 4 says that perfect love casts out fear. Fear has torment. There's the fear of punishment and the fear that, say, a kid has of an alcoholic dad when he reaches out for me. Is he going to hit me or is he going to hug me?
That's not the fear that we have of God or the fear that a servant has cowering in a corner. Is his master going to whip him again? That's not the fear that we have. Perfect love casts that out. But you better believe that we have a reverential awe.
You better believe that we recognize who God is and we don't play games with him. And this is not just the truth of the Old Testament, but of the New Testament as well. And it even says in Acts the 9th chapter that the church enjoyed a time of great peace. This is after Saul of Tarsus becomes a believer in Jesus the Messiah. And it says that they were living in the fear of the Lord.
This is a good thing. This is a healthy thing.
So I want to give you quickly three aspects of the fear of the Lord. To watch my whole message on it was recorded as I preached in Saskatoon yesterday, Sunday morning. To listen to the entire message, go to my Facebook page, ask Dr. Brown, A-S-K-D-R-Brown on Facebook. Make sure you like the page if you're not connected with us already there.
Join our half million plus family on Facebook. It's a great place to learn, to grow, to interact, to be challenged, to be equipped. But go there. The whole message is posted. I think you'll be edified and helped and blessed by it.
But number one, the fear of God starts with a recognition of who he is, an all-holy, all-powerful, all-just, all-righteous God. And when God came down on Mount Sinai and revealed himself as a consuming fire, and his voice so terrified the people, they said to Moses, You speak to us. If he speaks to us, we're going to die. We're all going to die. Just hearing his voice was too intense, it was too much.
Think of it. Moses says to the people in Exodus the 20th chapter: don't fear. God has come. to put his fear before you so that you will not sin. Don't fear, God has come to test you and to put his fear before you so you won't sin.
It's the same Hebrew root.
Some translations say, don't be afraid. God's put his fear before you. But it's the same Hebrew root, fear, fear. Don't fear, meaning he's not here to kill you. He's not here to destroy you.
Don't fear in that way. Yes, don't be afraid. But Have a right fear. Understand who he is. His fear is here, so you won't sin against him.
I don't want to sin against that God. Because that God can back his word. I don't want to sin against that God, because that God is perfectly just. I don't want to sin against that God, because that God can destroy both soul and body in hell. Therefore I recognize who he is, And in light of that, In light of that, I live a life that is circumspect.
This is a theme, Old Testament and New.
Now think of it, through the blood of Jesus, we have been washed clean and we have been made holy so that we can come into the holy presence of God.
Now, as a result of that, much has been given to us, much is required of us, and we are called to live out a holy life.
So it's number one, the recognition of who he is. This is the beginning of the fear of the Lord. Number two, living a life that pleases him. To walk in the fear of the Lord means knowing who he is, I live before him circumspectly. Oh, not with the fear of if I make one mistake, he's going to get me.
I think one wrong thought he's going to get me. No, no, no. Our Father's heart is set on us with deep, everlasting love. Our Father's heart is set on us with an intense love even more than we could imagine. Even more than, look, the greatest love we have for our kids, God's love is greater.
The greatest love we have for our spouses, God's love is greater. That is his attitude towards us. That is his mindset towards us. Because of his love and because of his holiness, we now live a life that pleases him. Psalm 34 says, I will teach you the fear of the Lord, meaning how to live in the sight of God.
And then, thirdly, Proverbs 14 tells us that the fear of the Lord is a strong tower, that the fear of the Lord is a place of security. What does it mean? It means when I live that life in his presence, when I live that life in godly fear, when I live a life honoring him, I'm safe. I'm secure. I liken it to a spotlight.
That spotlight shines down in the darkness. You can't see anything around you, but that spotlight, that's like God's light, God's law, God's ways, God's goodness, God's grace. When I walk in that, So I live that life pleasingly in a sight, I'm safe. I'm secure. I'm at rest because I'm living in the light of God's presence.
Walk in the fear of the Lord, my friend, and you too will be blessed. Remember to check out my latest articles and videos. Go to thelineoffire.org and explore the digital library. Be sure to download the Ask Dr. Brown app for Android.
Hopefully, any day available for Apple. My bottom line today: when we live by the word of the living God, we are blessed. In this world, and the world to come.
