The Food for Thought Faithcast with Be Rob

Ep.29-Navigating Life's Seasons: Finding God Through Association

• Be Rob • Season 1 • Episode 29

Share episode
Speaker 1:

And I'm excited to speak to you today and share a few words. I promise I'll have to mark, get my notes out here Now. Most of it is not going to be on the screen or a computer or anything like that, it's going to be on the yellow. Now, I'm old school. It's not going to be on the screen or a computer or anything like that, it's going to be on the yellow label pad. But what a glorious morning to be in the house of God. You know, the pastor asked me to speak. I was feeling for him and I was struggling with what to say, sitting there having a conversation with another pastor in my business and the word seasons and seasons of association came and I just said that's what we'll talk about. Well, you're good.

Speaker 1:

Today is we set our clocks forward. In my eyes it's not spring yet officially, but it kind of is right. I'm not sure when the first day of spring is, but it's real close and I thought it'd be a good time to talk about seasons. And we've got all kinds of seasons. We've got football season, baseball season, basketball season. Around here we've got something called what is it, miss Nine Peach season. That's right, peach season. We've got peach season. It ranks right up there, I think, with football and basketball and baseball, and Sid Johnson is the peach capital of the world, even though Georgia is a peach state. It's right here, that's the peach capital.

Speaker 1:

But I want to talk about seasons and seasons of association and what that means. You know the way things grow. We plant them in the spring, we cultivate them in the summer. We cultivate them in the summer, we reap them in the fall and then winter prepares us all over again for another spring. So a lot of conversations with Christians and non-Christians and just people in general. One of the most common things they ask is why do we have joyful and difficult times? Why do we have sorrow and grief but then turn around and have happiness? And that's really hard to explain, right? A lot of bad things happen to good people. We've all been challenged with that and I seem to be running into that a lot lately. But I think what happens is it takes different seasons in our lives to mold and make us into what God wants us to be Genesis 1.14.

Speaker 1:

My Bible's right here, but I did print it out for eyesight purposes, even though my Bible is pretty big print Genesis 1.14, and God said let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night, and let there be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. So in the very beginning of Genesis, god made the seasons, he separated them, he made them for a purpose and, just like the seasons beginning of Genesis, god made the seasons, he separated them, he made them for a purpose and just like the seasons of the year, I believe we have God-ordained seasons of life. You know, it's real simple to see. We got a four-month-old baby over here. We got a girl. We just had two rows of children and childhood. We got a teenager in the house today. Things. We got the golden years. We got seasons of life. You know, seasons provide what the earth needs at a particular time. Right, we want to talk about that. We couldn't stay in winter or summer forever. We can't stay as an infant. We can't stay as a child. We can't stay as a teenager, as a middle-aged, as much as I would like to now, for 30-plus years that I've been a middle-aged. So it is like you know, we need what God has in store for us for every season.

Speaker 1:

Psalms 104.19. I promise I'm going somewhere with this guys. 104.19. He made the moon to mark the seasons and the suns know when to go back. Everything's tied to seasons. You know a farmer. He doesn't just plant the seed. If he doesn't plant the seed, he doesn't get a crop to harvest. We know that in this town, right here, right, if our peach farmers don't plant, they're not going to get it. Here's where it comes into life. Okay, if our faith is never tested, then you never have a testimony. And you get that faith tested through seasons. And we need that testimony so that we can share God's faithfulness, his goodness, okay, and what he has in store for us.

Speaker 1:

So let's talk about the four seasons. We've got Daylight Savings time. I was going to mention this since this is my first season. Does anybody know when it was created? Daylight Savings 1918. Does anybody know why, robert? How many of you know? Why? Do you know why it was all over World War I? To save conservative energy. That's why it was created. The Germans actually started a couple years before we did. But as we go into daylight savings, I thought we would talk about spring first. So I'm going to talk about the four seasons that God gives us in nature and then I'm going to talk about associations that he gives us in these seasons.

Speaker 1:

So number one is spring. Spring forward, that's the two words of the day. Spring forward, psalm 5110. Creating thee a two words of the day. To spring forward, psalm 5110,. Creating me a clean heart. O God, renew my loyal spirit in me. What do we usually think of when we hear the word spring? Spring cleaning? We started yesterday spring cleaning, the exact opposite of where I told you to start. We started digging up weeds and pulling up and all the other stuff we had to do. But it's a time to renew. It's a time to clean the winter leaves. The flowers start to bloom, the animals come out of hibernation After a challenging winter okay, because winters can be challenging we have a great opportunity to plant a seed, like the farmer, and watch it grow. I think our church is in spring right now. And would that do a winter, chris? Oh, yeah, a little longer than four or five months it says.

Speaker 1:

That's the other thing. God's seasons in our personal lives don't necessarily align with the length of the natural seasons. Okay, sometimes they're shorter, sometimes they're longer. This church is out of the winter, it is into the spring. We went through a disassociation with the mother denomination. We went through not knowing mother denomination. We went through not knowing what denomination we would be. We went through no pastor, god giving us with an interim pastor. We went through almost six months of not knowing when that pastor was going to be here we went through our limit, okay, and like knowing when that pasture was going to be here.

Speaker 1:

We went through our winter, okay, and like the plants that God gives us that suffer through the winter, we survive. So I want you to think this morning spring, fall. Think of cleansing your spiritual heart. Think of cleansing the church and being ready. Think of planting the church and being ready. Think of planting the seeds and getting ready for summer. Protecting your summer, okay, a farmer can't just throw those seeds out there. He's got to protect them. He can't let harm come to those plants when they start. So when seeds are planted, we're beginning to reap the harvest. We want to protect that harvest. Jfk said the time to prepare the roof is when the sun shines. When's the sun shining the best? In the summer, okay. So when we move into the summer season here in this church, we move into a summer season in our life. We want to protect that summer. Thirdly, take responsibility in the fall. Now, what happens in the fall? It is a time of harvest.

Speaker 1:

You've had spring to plant the seed. You've had summer to protect it and watch over it. When the fall comes, that's a time of harvest. It begins to get cooler. The leaves are more beautiful in the fall. Right before what? Right before they fall. Okay, so take responsibility in the fall.

Speaker 1:

Whatever you've learned from the previous two seasons, use that to prepare you for what's coming next. And again, our personal seasons and challenges don't come the same way, but in a way they do. God prepares it. Those leaves that are so beautiful, they go away and the winter's right there. We're going to take that spring, summer and winter I mean spring, summer and fall and we're going to get ready to number four embrace our winter. When winter comes, we immediately know it's coming right. What are the first things we do? We change our wardrobes. You don't wear shorts anymore. You put on your jacket to prepare you for the cold that's coming, for the change in temperature that's coming, for the change in temperature that's coming. We know what's coming and we also know in life, tough times are coming. Something interesting I found about trees. I always thought they just died in the winter and just come back to life. I never really studied it. But what happens when those leaves fall, they release nutrients back into the bark and those nutrients keep that tree alive and that winter through that storm. So I think we're going to talk about this now that God provides us our faith and our faith associations that prepare us for difficult times like the winter.

Speaker 1:

One more verse for you James 15, 12. No one can tell. I'm terrible with this, I'm sorry. James 1, 12. Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. So we talk about seasons that God made. We know he made them. How do we really get through? You know it's easy to talk about it, it's easy to read through the calendar, but we admit they don't follow like we think they're gonna follow. So for a few minutes, I just want to share some of Jamie and I's personal testimonies about some, about some seasons and how associations Helped us get through. I'm going to start right here.

Speaker 1:

It was 2017. And the season we were in Was our youngest child was graduating high school and we had bought a little place in the country. Okay, we had been in a big church, a large church. I was over the connections ministry with 130 people 30 people, 30, 35 people in the sun were underneath, spread out on this campus of church Hardly ever got to hear a sermon. All I did was make sure people found the bathroom and were greeted, and done that properly. Johnny had taken over the Sunday school class the college Sunday school class. It had three kids in it and she had it for 55. And we were tired. We were ready to come to it this season and we decided. David Satcher told us about this little church and I thought to myself well, that might be small enough, I can slip in and slip out, and that's exactly what we came here with the intent to do. See, god wasn't through with our winter yet, a winter that really turned into a great spring. That's when President James came. On 2018, march 3rd.

Speaker 1:

We had been in this church less than a year. The first time we brought her in this church, it was winter. To us, the whole circumstances were winter. Everything about her was winter. It wasn't even spring or summer. I about her was women. It wasn't even spring or summer, or fall or summer. The very first Sunday, sitting right back there in the back, I told her we'll never walk in this church again. I am so embarrassed We'll never come in this church again.

Speaker 1:

There were some associations at work, right, ms Allen, a lot of them. And in our winter the associations embraced us and loved us and said no, y'all ain't going nowhere. That lady can do whatever she wants to do Crawl, run, jump and she did. And she did Right. Then, over time, I began to see that she would pew hop. Maybe it was somebody that was having a bad morning and she was pew hopping and making their morning a little bit better. That's a good example of how she associated with us. Another staying on the Presley train.

Speaker 1:

We couldn't take her IT. We got put out of restaurants, literally. We'd order a drink before the waitress would bring it back. I'd have to put $10 down and we'd be on our way to her car. She would not go into a restaurant. Okay, those of you who've been here a while will remember that we took her to Old McDonald's Fish Camp. Some of you know this story. The day she was baptized, there were two rows of people here from Old McDonald's Fish Camp. Okay, a waitress took a shot into her. Okay, allowed us to sit down and wolf down the meal while she walked her around Old McDonald's and saw those animals and saw that stuff and walked to the kitchen. Then another person stepped up and helped. We began to have a place at least once a week we could go have a meal at. We go once a week now A lot of y'all know that Back and back she cleans and buses tables and sits at a cash register and basically runs a restaurant.

Speaker 1:

At eight years old those associations that little waitress that did that ended up meeting her family, selling her family cars, selling parts over there at that restaurant. Her grandfather was a pastor. I had never met him. He's now one of my closest friends and my dear, dear spiritual mentor. That's associations. That's how God puts people in your life. In the midst of a winter, okay. In the midst of a cold freeze a winter. That's how God puts people in your lives in association. David Satchel is a prime example of that. David had a winter here, okay, and God put him in our life and he's a blessing to us and he turned the winner into a spring and a sun. One more personal, quick story, and I hope it's okay to share it. I've got an employee here this morning. Big Rob, raise your hand there. This is Brian Robinson. I've got two new employees. This is Emily over at Holden, Beautiful little boat. Udderton, beautiful little book. Emily Dow, her husband Dawson. She is our new social media director, aggressive, and Eli is a new salesman there.

Speaker 1:

And I'm going to share just a little touch of how God uses associations. Current Told you some old stories. This is a current story. We've been struggling in work with some growth issues and we needed to fill a position that was taken away from Jamie and Julia that works with us and we were struggling and we couldn't get ahead and we began to do an interview process to hire someone and we posted a job on Indeed and we had over 100 applications. You ever been in the hiring process.

Speaker 1:

It's very aggravating to hire and go through and look at 100 applications and I'm gonna tell you the majority of them were garbage. They were just not good applications. They weren't what we asked for. They weren't what we asked for. We were able to get. It was either 12 or 14 interviews out of that, either video or in person, and we had struggled. We really only found three interviews that we thought had any capability at all. We interviewed one and we felt really strong about it and I was beginning to close the interview process.

Speaker 1:

The application came across and it did not line up at all with what I had put my mind on for this particular job, but there were some things on the resume that made me stop and look at it and at least read it. And what they were? They were associates, associations of people that I knew in this business. The resume didn't match what I thought I wanted, but the names on that resume hindered me to say Jamie, I'm going to interview this guy as a courtesy, because, kind of unspoken rule in the car business, you see a very good-looking resume with some names you recognize. You give them an interview. I had already kind of made my mind up who I was going to hire and so I did a video call. I thought I did it in person actually, but I did a video by mistake. I clicked the wrong button and that was fine. So about five minutes before the interview, we were getting ready to do it the candidate on the other side said the devil told him they're not ready to do it. The candidate on the other side said the devil told him they're not going to hire you. You're too old for this job. It's not the right job for you. You're not what they're looking for.

Speaker 1:

Come to find out he'd been struggling with some things in his life for several months Financially, spiritually, emotionally struggling. He was in winter, he was in deep winter, okay, and he was struggling, he said at 9.55,. He went to click on the bell. He said don't do it, don't do it. A very mind-altering mind it was. So 10 o'clock came, interview video popped up.

Speaker 1:

I looked at him. I didn't recognize him and we began to interview him. He said Brian Johnson. I said yeah. He said you remember me. I didn't really think that. I said well, I'm not sure. And he dropped some names, association names, and I said yeah, sure I do, and we're getting the pieces together. He said I had no idea this was your business. I knew you used to own it, but I thought you sold it to a lady, because all I see is the TV commercials with a lady on them. Advertising is working.

Speaker 1:

And so we began this conversation. About ten minutes in I talked to him and I said his name's Brian. I said Brian, I got to tell you something. I'm not going to hire you for this position. I said I gave you a courtesy interview. I'm going to close your resume Because I knew some things on there. God began to speak to me. He said I don't want him for that position, I want him for something else. And I said would you do me a courtesy of coming over next week and meeting me, jamie and I, in person. I got something on my mind I want to talk to you about and so I said, yeah, I guess I'm good at social media. I said, I know, but I've already made my mind up when I clicked this what I was going to do about it.

Speaker 1:

Well, he comes over and we began to talk and catch up. He'd been out of the car business almost five years, decided he wasn't ever gonna get back in the interview because of bad experiences he'd had. Leroy, I hope it's okay for me to share this right. He had watched a video about Jamie and I. That had been done. Somebody had interviewed a friend of mine had done, where we talked about putting a bottle in the glove box and he said I wasn't going to come for this interview because I didn't go back to my car business. He said the last job I had. He couldn't have a bottle on your desk, much less he'd get one out.

Speaker 1:

But we met and talked and God said this is the right man for your business, this is the right lady over here for her job and this is the right one for you. And we put this together and we made it work. He's going to be a good long-term fit with our team. My point is any of you women, however long it is, with our team. My point is in your winter, however long it is, whether it's four months, whether it's five years, there's a spring coming. We've got to hear God's voice, and it might be through a video call, it might be through a resume, it might be through a referral, it might be through a, it might be through a referral, it might be through a. Whatever God puts in your life to get you to a win. But those are just a few examples of seasons of life, and we all die. We all die.

Speaker 1:

I want to share one last scripture as we close that I've heard this scripture. To share one last scripture with you as we close that I've heard this scripture too many times and every time I've heard it, I've followed it in a funeral setting. Pastor, you ever had something like that Just be associated with death and funeral? And God put this verse on me and it's just. It's been all over me since I read it, because it's really not about death.

Speaker 1:

Ecclesiastes 3, 1 through 8. To everything there is a season and a time. To every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck that which is landed, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to build up, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get, a time to sow, a time to keep silent and a time to speak.

Speaker 1:

A time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace. There's a season for everybody and every time God's taking a step. And I'm going to tell you, I'm totally convinced. That was a scripture for fools. I believe today it's a scripture for life. I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that every one of us, right now, is in a season, we're in a season, is in a season, we're in a season. Hey, if you're in a season where God is bringing you forward, let's embrace that. Let's embrace that. If it's a season of summer, you know, with the sun shining bright, let's open that roof, repair it by the sun's own. If it's a summer and fall and you're preparing for a winter, whatever season you're in, know, number one, that you're not alone and there's a God. If our testimony doesn't prove there's a God, I don't know what will. If our testimony doesn't prove there's a God, I don't know what will. And he'll put angels in your life, just like the one that just sang.

Speaker 1:

And, by the way, that song came together yesterday afternoon. Thank you very much, margaret, for helping us. President, I said I was speaking. She said well, dad, when we speak, all of us sing. You know, we've had the opportunity the last, I think six times in the last year to build different churches as a duo, where I speak and she sings. I said well, honey, what do you have prepared to sing? She said I'll sing something, and that little song was her idea.

Speaker 1:

You know, all the confidence in the world, no fear whatsoever. We're all in the season. How does God get us through that season? Puts associations in your life. Maybe those associations are just for a season, maybe they're for a multitude of seasons, maybe they're for a lifetime. But he will put associates and associations. You see, maybe today you're looking for a home church. We got one right here, amen, amen. I love that home church that came to us in a season and I'm telling you, we wanted to slip in and slip out. We had the vermin's down and everything Right down to where we sat. You know, that was it, that's all we wanted. But that's not what God had planned for us.

Speaker 1:

Maybe there's a conflict in your life. You can't get these off. Maybe you're stuck in the dead of winter. Ever been there, pastor Stuck, in the dead of winter? Ever been there, pastor Stuck, in the dead of winter?

Speaker 1:

There's a way out, guys, and it's through the cross, it's through giving that word, giving that way. Quit fighting it yourself, quit carrying it yourself. Give it to God. Maybe it's financial, give it to God. It doesn't matter what it is. A marriage, give it to God. He will provide In just a second. We're going to close. We're going to have a closing hymn. This altar is open. If you're in winter, get on your knees and give it to God. If you're in spring, you need guidance. Get on your knees and give it to God and let Him bring you into spring. If you're in spring and you need guidance, get on your knees and give it to God. That's what this is for, guys. This building right here is not made to look crude. It's made to heal hearts, and I challenge you today, whatever season you're in, bring it to God, father, god.

Speaker 1:

I thank you so much this time to come together. I thank you for this group of people, this congregation, and Lord. We thank you for the seasons of life. We thank you for the gifts you give us that bring each of those seasons, lord, but most importantly, we thank you for the power you give us to see our way through our seasons. Lord, let's speak to our hearts today. If there's anybody here struggling, if there's anybody that needs prayer, if there's anybody that needs a church family, if there's anybody that needs a miracle, today is the day to claim that.

Speaker 1:

We thank you we ask you, in your name, amen and you, please stand and join us. It is prayer that we're going to do. We ask you to come. Everyone needs compassion, a love that's never failing. Let mercy fall on me. Everyone needs forgiveness, the kindness of a Savior, the hope of nations of nations. Savior, he can help the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save Forever. Author of salvation, he rose and conquered the grave. Jesus conquered the plague. Savior, he can move the mountains. My God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save forever. On the road of salvation, heroes that conquered the plague.

Speaker 2:

Jesus conquered the plague. All right, you just heard an angel, little Miss Eight-Year-Old Presley, jane Johnson, and she is amazing story, an amazing person and an amazing little child of God. Her parents are Brian and Jamie Johnson. My name is B-Rob and this is the Food for Thought podcast. I want to thank you for just reaching out tonight and paying attention to the podcast. Uh, we really appreciate your uh presence and um you listening and just want to say this podcast is uh starting to be an amazing thing and um, brian Johnson was the one giving the sermon at the beginning of the podcast and it was an amazing sermon and there was a little snippet in there about me and I just want to appreciate that I'm sending out love and light to the Johnsons who own Crescent Automotive, who I work for now.

Speaker 2:

So B-Rob drives Crescent. If you don't drive Crescent, you need to drive Crescent and I can hook you up. And that's just an amazing thing that God has done. Just more testimonies of faith, love and light. And, uh, just want to say God bless you, we love you all. Um, I will leave you with this prayer.

Speaker 2:

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you today, we thank you for this Monday, lord. We thank you for the gift of life, mercy and grace that you show on everybody, lord. We thank you for our families. We thank you for our friends. We thank you for our loved ones. We thank you for our enemies, lord. We pray for every one of those. Lord, we thank you for what you're going to do, what you have done. We just thank you, lord, for being so great. We thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for us, so that we can have everlasting life, just like he and you. So, yeshua, we thank you. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Speaker 2:

All right, guys, just want to say this podcast is brought to you by B-Rob Music and it's wwwbrobmusiccom, that's B-E-R-O-B music dot com. So if you feel led and you like what we are doing, please help us out. If you feel like a giving Christian, then, um, please check it out. There's a digital tip jar there and my website and my music and my podcast and on my social medias. You can find me on and we love you guys. God bless you and good night. We love you guys. God bless you and good night. This episode is brought to you by S4 Construction Services out of Lincolnton, georgia. You want your roof done right. You want your roof replacements done right. You want your metal and vinyl and hardy siding done right. Patio covers, pole barn barns, wooden chain link fences. Call s4 construction services now at 706-834-0865. That's 706-834-0865.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.