Jonathan Isaac Takes Stand For Christ

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. Well, I am very excited today because I have a favorite player in the NBA.

And you may say to yourself, what is the big deal? People have favorite players all the time, all over the place. And I've had favorite players in the past, but I've never had a favorite player because of their ability to play the game. Instead, my reason is because of their character, because of their moral standard. And I've had guys like Alan Houston, AC Green, Johnson. Those are guys that in the past were my favorite players because I admired their character.

I admire the stand that they would take for morality. But those guys are long gone. They retired. And in the current league, there was no one that I knew of that I could say really held to those same character standards. Well, that all has changed because of this young man by the name of Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic. And if you haven't heard in the first game to restart the NBA, Jonathan Isaac chose to stand during the national anthem.

That's right. While all of his teammates, all of the staff on both teams were actually kneeling as a protest to what they say is racial injustice. Jonathan Isaac chose to stand. And not only that, he also did not have a Black Lives Matter t-shirt on as the rest of the team.

The guys did. So imagine if you can, if you haven't seen it, just, just picture this, that here, this man, this young man is standing there. Everybody else is kneeling wearing these Black Lives Matter t-shirts. He's standing there with his head down with the national anthem playing. And this large Black Lives Matter decal is right in front of him on the court, but he's standing. So excited about this young man is the reason that he gave for standing during the national anthem.

So let me just share with you real quick. Some of the excerpts from the ESPN report concerning this event that just happened yesterday, just yesterday. The NBA has all of the players there in Orlando. They're keeping them quarantined from the rest of society to try to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 within the facility. So, so they can't come and go as they please. They must stay in that facility and what they are calling the bubble. So the article goes on to state, the decision to stand came before Orlando's 128 to 118 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. Afternoon, the third game to be played in the NBA bubble in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

In the previous two games, Thursday, Jazz Pelicans and Clippers Lakers, all players and coaches kneel during the anthem. As the article goes on to state, after the Magic's victory, Isaac, who was black, was asked if he believed that Black Lives Matter. Now here's where I get really excited when I hear what his response is. Isaac stated, quote, absolutely. I believe that Black Lives Matter. A lot went into my decision. And part of it is my thought that kneeling while wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt don't go hand in hand with supporting black lives. And so I felt like just me personally and what it is that I believe in standing on a stance that I do believe that black lives matter. But I just felt like it was a decision that I had to make.

And I didn't feel like it was a decision that I had to make. I felt like putting that shirt on went hand in hand with supporting black lives. So that is how he began the press conference. And the people, it was very obvious that the reporters were baffled as to why he chose to stand, why he did not kneel. The article goes on to say that Isaac, Jonathan Isaac, became an ordained minister in March. And so listen to how the press conference continued.

Kneeling or putting on a t-shirt for me personally is the answer. I feel like for me, black lives are supported through the gospel. All things are supported through the gospel. Now, as I heard this at this press conference, I mean, I was just grinning ear to ear because this young man used this opportunity as a time to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This young man chose to take a stand for the gospel. I disagree with him who do not see it the way that he sees it. And I see it the way that he does. As I look at what is happening in our world, in our country here, there is great division.

And that is the M.O. for Satan. He's been trying to create division for centuries since the beginning. That has been his thing to create division. He started it with Adam and Eve in the garden when he pitted them against one another.

He has always been trying to create division because Jesus Christ says there is oneness in him. And as we look today at what is happening in society, and I've been trying to stress this to people that we are not going about it the right way when we see an injustice done. Why do we have to make it a racial matter? And all of this got reignited again, and there have been numerous incidents here in recent history over the last decade, a couple of decades. But what has recently sparked this is the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer. And I say to people, why is it that it has to be a racial matter? Why is it that we have to assume that the police officer's motivation to doing what he did to George Floyd was because of the fact that George Floyd was black? There was a time in which whenever there was a murder, they would state during the news report that a motive has not yet been determined.

If they did not know the motive, they would just simply say the police are still investigating a motive or if they knew the motive, they would state it. But in this case, people just jump right to the conclusion that, oh, the motive was because of racism. And we simply do not know that it could be that that police officer was just an evil man who would have did that to anybody, regardless of their race. And I've tried to get people to understand, stop looking at everything through the eyes of race, stop calling everything racism, because everything that we see is not racism. We have fallen human beings and we are going to have conflict between one another. And sometimes that conflict is going to be between one person of one race and one person of another race.

But that doesn't mean that it is racism, no more than when I have conflict with my wife. We don't agree on everything. We are Christians.

We are born again believers, but we do not see everything eye to eye. We don't have these major fights or anything like that, but we see things differently. In some cases, we have different opinions at times, but it doesn't make me a sexist. It just simply we are different people.

We have different opinions. And sometimes we as fallen people, we make mistakes and we offend one another. But that is where forgiveness comes in. And that is what I've been trying to stress throughout this time is that we have to forgive one another and stop holding on. There are so many people that are allowing what has happened in our nation's history with slavery, with Jim Crow, with the civil rights era, the injustices that were done in this clouding people's judgment to think that, well, anytime something that happens now, they reach back to that. But imagine that in your marriage, if you reach back to everything that has ever been done, every time you have a disagreement, you're not going to have a healthy marriage.

Your marriage is going to struggle. And so Jonathan Giser here is using this opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. He goes on to state in this report in which they are quoting what he stated at the press conference. I feel like the Bible tells us we all fall short of God's glory. And at the end of the day, whoever will humble themselves and seek God and repent of their sins, that we could see it in a different light. See our mistakes and people's mistakes in a different light, see people's evil in a different light, and that it would help bring us closer together and get past anything that's on the surface that doesn't really deal with the hearts of men and women. I'ma tell you, you know, I couldn't say it any better.

I could not say it any better that he's stating here. When you look at things through the glory of God, God's glory, you're going to look at things differently. We have to humble ourselves because we've all done things wrong. We all have scenes that we need to repent of. And he says, when you do that, when you look at it humbly, when you see yourself as a fallen sinner, maybe you haven't murdered anyone. Maybe you've never committed a racist act, but you have sinned.

You probably lied. Most of the vast society is guilty of fornication. A lot of people have stolen things. We've all seen people have unjustly became unjust anger expressed towards a person. We've all seen and fallen short. And when we humble ourselves and realize that we all are sinners, then we can see things differently. But see, the world thinks the opposite.

The world does not see it this way. And that is why Jonathan Isaac, this young man is only 22 years old, an ordained minister, and he just took a stand, took a stand for Jesus Christ. And I love it so much because as we look through history, Satan has been trying to get us to bow the knee before anything but God throughout history. He tried it in the Bible to get people to bow the knee before Baal.

And he's been trying to get people to bow the knee before anything other than God. And now people are bowing the knee to a racial movement. And it troubles me because, yes, we can fight against unjust acts. But why can't we just look at the George Floyd incident and just say that man was unjustly murdered at the hand of a police officer and justice must be served? Why do we have to look at it through the lens of racism? Why is it that if George Floyd had been a white man, would we even be talking about this? If he were a white man, would you have the same passion?

Would you have the same rage about the incident? We are supposed to love everyone, love your neighbor as you love yourself, regardless of their race. And so many people are guilty of taking sides.

So many people are elevating the race above our Lord. And so Jonathan Eisen, he stated in this report, he said, we had a team meeting and his teammates, they they talked about it beforehand. And he said they respected him for his decision.

They understood. He said they understood that for me personally, it is not coming from a position of wanting to be popular or seen or anything other than a humble servant of Jesus. That's where I state my flag.

Where do you state your flag? Are you trying to be a humble serpent of Jesus Christ or is your mission in life? Your goal is to run around just looking to get into the middle of a ruckus over racial acts or what you deem at least as unjust race acts. And as he met with his teammates, one of his teammates, a guy by the name of Evan Fournier, he he said that Isaac had hadn't had fully explained what he would do, but they supported him, but he supported him.

And he said that, you know, to be honest, he did not even need to express that he did not need to explain anything beforehand. So when we take a stand, his teammates respected him, the opposing team respected him. And when we take a stand for Jesus Christ, a lot of people are afraid to speak up for what is right because they are afraid of being vilified.

They are afraid of people not liking them. But as we see in this case that he stood up and his teammates respected him for it, the opposing team respected him for it, and he is taking a stand for Jesus Christ. So are you willing to take a stand for Jesus Christ today? And we're going to take a short break. But on the other side, we're going to come back and we're going to talk about it more because you may be saying, well, what is wrong with taking a knee for standing for injustice, what you deem is a racial injustice? What is wrong with that?

Why do we have to do it another way? We're going to come back and talk about on the other side of the break. Don't go away. You are tuned in to the God First podcast. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit God First dot org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage and the significance of Lesson Israel, just to name a few.

You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our Web store. So please visit us at God First dot org. Now let's return to the conclusion of today's message.

Welcome back to the God First podcast. My name is Brian Thomas and we are discussing today. Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Match in the National Basketball Association took a stand during the national anthem, and he took a stand in the name of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

The report goes on to state, quote, people have opinions and people have the way that they feel, Isaac said. So obviously, me not wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt, people are going to take it in a million different places. I'm not standing and I'm not wearing a T-shirt to get something done as well. He says, let me restate that, he says, I'm standing and not wearing a T-shirt to get something done as well. Let me make that clear.

He says I'm standing and not wearing a T-shirt to get something done as well. The NBA has had this rule since the since the early 1980s, saying that players must stand for the anthem. But the commissioner, Adam Silver, he said on Thursday night that he was relaxing that policy in these times when the desire for equality and social justice is at the forefront. So that is where the commissioner stands on that. A lot of leagues are bypassing their rule for standing during the national anthem.

In light of what society is in this uproar over saying, well, there's this systemic racism. But I want to share with you also that what I just shared with you is the ESPN report. I want to share with you the Sports Illustrated version, because what I find interesting is that Sports Illustrated included something that ESPN cut out. They stated here, quoting Jonathan Isaac, we all fall short of God's glory. And at the end of the day, whoever will humble themselves and seek God and repent their sins, then we could see our mistakes and people's mistakes and people's evil in a different light. And here's the part in which ESPN did not include, he stated, and that it would help bring us closer together and get past skin color, end quote. Now, that is so important because that is what we need to do, get past skin color.

Martin Luther King said he looked forward to the day in which a man would be judged by his character. By the content of his character rather than the color of his skin, but we're in a time in which people are looking at things based on the color of one skin instead of their character, because, again, had George Floyd been white, would we see this outcry? And I know that there are those who are on that side of saying there is systemic racism, there's injustice. They would say, well, the reason why you don't hear about it is because whites are not being treated that way by the police. But the statistics actually say that more whites have been shot and killed by police officers than blacks this year. And I was actually stating that to a friend of mine a few days ago, and he was surprised by it.

He said, really? He said, I know I don't hear about it. And I said, of course, the liberal media, they spin it to where you hear about the cases in which a black man is killed, because that incites people's rage, that incites people's emotions, that gets ratings. But hearing about a white man being killed by a police officer, people just yawn and turn over and go back to sleep. And it's not right.

We are supposed to again love our fellow man, whether he's black, white, whatever color he is. And so Jonathan Isaac, again, he's taken a stand for the gospel because he is taking a stand to stand for Jesus Christ. The report goes on to state. And this is the reporter who is stating this here. The reporter says.

I asked Jonathan Isaac two questions. You didn't kneel during the anthem, but you also didn't wear a Black Lives Matter shirt. Do you believe Black Lives Matter? Can you explain what religion has to do with kneeling for the anthem to protest against racism and police brutality?

End quote. You know, I kind of chuckle because these liberal left reporters, they don't know what to do with this young man. They don't know what to do with people who take this stance because here he is. He's black. And he's saying that because of his faith in Jesus Christ, he's handling things in this manner. And she's asking him the question, do you believe Black Lives Matter?

And what kind of question is that? Of course, the man thinks Black Lives Matter. He's black himself. But even if he were not black, he's still because he's a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ.

He's going to believe that black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter, because that is the love that you have when you are a follower of Jesus Christ. You see, the world's thinking. Is opposite of what the gospel says. First Corinthians Chapter one, verse 18 says, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. You see, it's foolishness to the world. They can't understand how it is that you can see things happening to someone within your own race and you do not react with rage.

You do not get all bent out of shape about it. But see, when you look at things through the cross. And what happened at the cross?

Jesus Christ, as he was dying on the cross, as people were mocking him, after they had beaten him, after they had torn off his clothes, humiliated, shamed him, spit in his face. He said, Father, forgive them. That goes against the world's thinking because the world says, no, curse them. The world says, strike them down for what they're doing to me.

I want them to be punished for what they're doing. But no, Jesus says, forgive them. For they know not what they do.

The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, and that is why we need to come to accept Jesus Christ, because when you accept him as Lord and Savior, you can have a peace in your heart that surpasses all understanding. You can have a peace that even in the midst of what is an injustice, you can still have a heart of forgiveness. And that is what is the struggle right now with our nation. People will not forgive. People are refusing to forgive, many of them.

And that is why this continues to go on. And it is going to continue until people make the decision that we are going to forgive. We're going to forgive for slavery. We're going to forgive for Jim Crow. We're going to forgive about the injustices during segregation. And there are a lot of blacks now that are holding it against whites that are living today that were not even alive when those things were happening. So why is it that we as blacks, some of some of us or many of us who were not in slavery ourselves, why are we angry at whites who were not slave masters, who had nothing to do with those things that took place because they were not alive? It's because we have hardness of hearts. We have unforgiveness in our hearts. And that is why Jonathan Isaac can stand for the anthem, because he does not have that hardness of heart. He has forgiveness in his heart. He's not holding it against the people, whites for what their ancestors did. He's not looking at things that happen as well. The only reason the cop did it is because he's a black man.

He's looking at things as we are the human race and we ought to love everyone. And so there's this narrative out there, this false narrative that our country is against blacks. And I just do not accept it.

I do not believe it. I was watching the news and the chiefs of police around my area, the three largest cities were all black. And I say, how can there be systemic racism? How can blacks being be held back? And there are all these leaders who are black. And then as I watch the national news and I look all these cities that across the nation, major cities like Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, and they have blacks, black women that are in high offices like the chief of police, like the mayor.

And so how is this narrative of systemic racism playing out if blacks are in those positions? I just simply do not buy it because I think it's the deception of the devil. First Corinthians, chapter two, verse 14, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. People that don't know Jesus Christ, when they don't have the spirit, the Holy Spirit living in them, they can't understand why Jonathan Isaac is not yelling. They can't understand why he's not wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt.

And let me also say this very quickly, and I've spoken about this in previous podcasts. I'm not going to to spend a lot of time on it, but Black Lives Matter is not a godly organization. Yes, the concept of Black Lives Matter is true because all lives matter. But the organization is against Christianity. The organization promotes not having a father in the home.

It goes against all things of the Christian faith, and so no Christian should be supporting that organization. And I believe that Jonathan Isaac realizes that, and that's why he is taking the stand that he's taking. The Bible tells us to avoid worldly wisdom in First Corinthians, chapter three, verses 18 through 20. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, he catches the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile.

I'm tell you, that says it all. The foolishness. Of the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and this world is constantly crying racism.

This world is constantly holding on to the past. That's foolishness unto God. This world wants to bow the knee. And let me just say this, that there are people that have made an idol out of their race. And I've said it years ago, when you look at how people behave when it comes to politicians, when political races, when they claim to be a Christian, but yet they will follow, support and vote for a politician because of the color of his or her skin, even though that politician's principles goes against the word of God.

But they choose that politician because of his or her race. That is when you are elevating your race. You're making an idol of your race and people are bound the knee now and they are making an idol. They're bowing the knee to their race. The day is coming in Philippians Chapter two, verse 10 through 11, that tells us that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on the earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. There is also a player in the baseball league, the major league baseball, and he made the decision.

And he's Caucasian, if I'm understanding correctly, I don't know his name off the top of my head. He made the decision to not kneel during the national anthem because he says he only kneels to our Lord. And that is how we all as Christian Christians should take the stance that we only kneel before Jesus Christ. And I encourage you today to adopt that mindset, because if not, if you don't do it voluntarily, you're going to do it someday because the Bible says that every knee shall bow.

Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, not your race and not anything else. So I applaud Jonathan Isaac for his stand. I applaud him taking advantage of the opportunity to share the gospel. And he's not doing it again, he says, for popularity.

He's doing it simply because it's the right thing to do. It is what God calls us to do to stand for him at all times, regardless of what the repercussions may be. So I tip my hat to this young man. I applaud him. It brings a smile to my face and a joy to my heart. And I encourage you all forgive one another. Look at things through the eyes of the Holy Spirit and you can have that peace.

You can have a joy that surpasses all understanding. And you too will be willing to stand for Jesus Christ and follow the lead of this young man, Jonathan Isaac. That is going to do it for this week. I want you to come back and join me again next week as we encourage you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Until then, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Blessings to God's great nation of Israel and to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God first reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our Web site, God first dot org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.