Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.
Gary Brothers on Three Life Principles That Build an Abundant Faith
About this episode
Pastor Gary Brothers, senior pastor of a thriving church in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, sits down with Philip Cameron to share three transformative life principles he preaches every single year — principles so foundational that multiple pastors across the country have adopted them as their own annual sermon series. Drawing from Philippians 4:8 and John 10:10, Gary unpacks a practical framework for living the abundant life Jesus promised: accent the good, punctuate the excellent, and dismiss the bad. "You will gravitate toward your most dominant thought," Gary explains, warning that a Chicken Little mindset — fixating on every falling acorn as a crisis — hands the enemy a strategy to derail your faith, your marriage, and your calling. He illustrates the power of reframing with a vivid real-world scenario: losing your job can either become a sky-is-falling moment or a declaration that "you're an upscale God — you always trade up." The second principle, punctuating the excellent, calls believers to build the habit of drawing special attention to what is right — in their spouse, their church, their pastor, and their own walk with God. The third, dismissing the bad, leans on Philippians 3:13-14 and Paul's own example of pressing forward despite a past filled with regret. Pastors wanting Gary's full sermon notes can reach him at garybrothersministries.com.
Part of our Faith collection of conversations.
What's Discussed
Pastor Gary Brothers of Cape Girardeau, Missouri shares three life principles he preaches annually — and that other pastors have adopted for their own congregations. Rooted in Philippians 4:8 and John 10:10, the framework is: accent the good, punctuate the excellent, and dismiss the bad. Gary warns against the "Chicken Little" mentality of turning every difficulty into a crisis, and teaches that believers gravitate toward their most dominant thought — making intentional focus on truth, nobility, and virtue essential to experiencing the abundant life Jesus promised. He draws on Philippians 3:13-14 to challenge listeners to release past failures and press forward. Pastors can request Gary's full sermon notes at garybrothersministries.com.
- Three Life Principles Overview
- Philippians 4:8 and Fixing Your Mind
- Chicken Little Mindset vs. Godly Perspective
- Punctuate the Excellent — Psalm 18:46
- Dismiss the Bad — Philippians 3:13-14
- Basketball Story and Dismissing Past Mistakes
- Contacting Gary Brothers Ministries
Scripture in this episode
The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,
Episode Transcript
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Intro
Philip:What a man believes and dreams about is the passions of his life, and I have several. One most recently is right here on Daily Faith. I began this program to help pastors during the pandemic, and then they're calling me from all over the country saying what's going to happen, and my son said why don't you have an hour-a-day show and just talk to pastors and let the pastors listen in and maybe get some ideas as to how they're coping with the situation. And it's grown from that into a ministry program that we are reaching into all kinds of folks' lives all over the world.
Philip:There's a dear friend from Pakistan who contacted us just the other day, and many from Africa, and of course from Europe also, so we're being seen all over the world. This program is here because everyone needs a measure of faith. If someone comes along to you and says that you believe in the right thing, this is the way you walk in it. When you have that backing, that affirmation that comes from the voice and the word of God, it strengthens your inner man to keep on going. And why Daily Faith? This year we've got some of the greatest men and women of God in America — pastors that have decades of experience in watching God's hand and the faithfulness of God.
Philip:And today I have one of those men. His name is Gary Brothers from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and he's with us in a moment. Let me update you on what's happening in Ukraine and Moldova. You know, we have a mission — that's another passion of my life. We've done tremendous mission work in Moldova. I went there 33 years ago. I found a boy in an orphanage and I adopted him, and God used that adoption to keep me going back and keep me going back — being back over 200 times in the last 33 years.
Philip:We went to Moldova most recently and discovered four girls were trafficked. We have a whole village called Vetra Village where each home has their own house parents, and these kids are taken from the orphanage and put back in school and we educate them in the educational systems. But the most important thing is we share the gospel with them. And these kids — orphaned kids — have turned from orphans to sons and daughters, and now they are missionaries. They go out into the highways and byways, in the bombed-out areas, in the war zones, risking their lives, and they just sent me a video that is mind-blowing.
Philip:And I want you to note — there's a short clip — you're going to see a van driving along, and planted, buried in the ground past where they drive, is an unexploded bomb. They were right in where the missiles were flying, blessing and feeding and caring for people. They sent me this video. They made it. This is not an American team going over there and producing it — our kids make this video themselves. The voice you're going to hear is a lady called Jazz Google, who's a house parent, and this is what they produced and this is what they saw when they went into Ukraine, into the middle of the war zone. Watch this.
A year ago their world was a happy place. They had jobs, their kids were in school, the corner shop sold bread and cheese and everything else. Their world was just like yours. Until through the mist and snow, monsters came. The tracks rattled on the ice-packed fields. The guns pointed towards the world they lived in. It took less than a second to obliterate everything that they had spent their lives building.
There are no accurate numbers as to how many have died. The end is nowhere in sight. We have been in Ukraine for years. From the first explosion we were involved. We took this assault personally. Our friends could not stand on the sidelines and do nothing. Our amazing group of young men and women did the unimaginable. Once again they drove into a war zone.
Once orphans themselves, they have felt personally the hand of grace and redemption. To go to this devastated world seems to them as normal as having a meal or going to church. They drove for hours, unable to stop and stretch their legs, as inches on each side of the vehicles were live mines. Every few miles they were stopped at checkpoints by nervous soldiers. They were running along the line between the Russians and Ukrainians. Our team finally reached Kherson, a recently liberated city still held in the grip of desperation.
They had brought food, wood-burning stoves that will save lives in the bitter deadly cold that is to come. They brought blankets that to many is the only barrier between survival and death. On a dreary day, within the sound of guns and bombs, the most astonishing thing took place. The rescued became the rescuers. Hundreds waited in the rain, shuffling along in a line that ended up in love — smiles, bread, fish, and the words of care from the heart of the redeemed.
As they traveled they came across bombed-out villages, scarred by the strife of bullets, destroyed by the landslides of death. Their water, electricity, and everything else was gone. But the wooden stove had become the guardian against the deadly cold. We know it is impossible for most to even imagine this world. But by giving and praying together for this unfolding tragedy, we can join our hearts and hands to bring the hope that was sent to earth by the living God.
If it were us, we would wait in line hoping that someone somewhere was thinking of us. We must go back. Will you send us? Every gift you give allows us to be his hands.
Philip:There's an old hymn that came to mind just now — oh, to be his hand extended, reaching out to the oppressed. There are oppressed people now. I'm not going to get into politics. I know that the news in America is trying to make it seem that Ukraine isn't worthy of our help. Let me tell you, Russia has invaded a sovereign country and is killing — over a hundred thousand Russian troops have died. This thing is out of control and Putin has decided to take away the water, take away the opportunity, take away the fuel, and let minus-30-degree weather freeze people to death. That's his plan.
Philip:And we, along with others, are running as hard as we can — running food. In fact, I heard this morning just an hour ago that a container with thousands of coats, our first container, has arrived safely there, and there are two more going behind it. We need you to help us. If you could please, first of all, pray — ask God for protection for our kids. They're going in those vans that you're seeing and they're literally bringing stuff with them, they're buying stuff there where there are some warehouses, and we just need you to pray with us. And we need you to support us. Whatever gift you can give today, whatever it is — 20 dollars, or a hundred dollars, or a thousand dollars — please allow the Lord to speak to your heart as to what he would have you do.
Philip:We are a small ministry that is doing way — we're punching way above our weight right now — and we are just giving and giving and giving, because we believe that when you care for the broken, God is going to give it back pressed down, shaken together, running over. You can be his hand extended. Our address is very, very simple. It's just PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee, 37716. PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee, 37716.
Philip:You can go to dailyfaith.tv — there's a giving button there. Hit the button and you can give right now with your bank card. Or if you'd like to, you can go to our 800 number — 833-DAILY-F — just punch Daily Faith in your phone and a real live person will pick up.
Philip:Please also know that the food crisis is immediate and desperate. We have taken all our girls from our home — we have a house in Ukraine — and we've taken the girls from there to Moldova for safety. But the pressure upon us now in Moldova is to put them back in Ukraine because the war isn't moving so fast as to be perceived as an imminent risk. So the house that we've been using for six years was leased and the owner wants out and he wants to sell it, and we are believing God to buy this — 200,000 to buy it, buy a vehicle with it so they can escape back to Moldova if necessary, and to buy furniture. So we're — it's a 200,000 challenge and we're 70,000 away from it. Please ask the Lord Jesus to speak to your heart to help.
Philip:If I understand you right, that house — we can buy this whole thing and save 24 girls' lives for a thousand-dollar gift. Many of you say, Philip, I can sacrifice to give $1,000 to save 24 girls. One girl caught by a trafficker is worth three hundred thousand dollars to that trafficker. We can save 24 of them in this house if the Lord provides it, and I know he's speaking in folks' hearts. So if you believe God would be pleased, just designate it "house" — that's all we need. That goes into a separate fund and we are believing God to have it, but we're hoping to have it bought by December. I certainly believe God will have it bought by January, and so please let the Lord speak to your heart.
Philip:I am delighted to have Gary Brothers. We were in his church — what an amazing church. I've never seen a church any more balanced in what God is doing and projecting itself into the future at the same time as possessing the land where it is. Just such wisdom. And I was just delighted to be there. And it was made well — by phone I met his mom, who remembered us from the old days on PTL when we sang, and I called her and sang it to her, and in her heart I'm like Elvis Presley. I'm delighted to have her son, Gary Brothers. Pastor Gary, thank you for being back with us on Daily Faith. God bless you. Tell us what's happening in your world.
Gary Brothers:Hey, great to be with you. Thanks again for allowing me to be a part of what you're doing around the world. And I just want to echo the people — I know we pray about what God wants us to give, but if you've got it, just give it towards what's going on there in Ukraine. It's very legitimate. I've been there many times myself. Just this year was the anniversary of a church we planted there and I'm hoping to get in the country and be there for the 30th anniversary, just to encourage those people in the middle of the war. But get behind what Pastor Philip is doing here and his ministry, and please, please just reach out — just go ahead and write that check and pray about it later.
Philip:That's good — wrong giving to the kingdom? Never, ever.
Gary Brothers:Exactly. That's exactly what we've done — we've written the check and now we're praying about it, saying Lord, you know, it's amazing what you can do by faith. And then you think, oh goodness, Lord, you're going to come through, and he's never failed us yet.
Philip:Never failed us yet. I want you — there's something that you speak to your church about every year, almost, that sets the DNA, sets the principles of what you do and why you exist. And I think it's just so valuable — three life principles. Could you take a few minutes and explain to our audience? And listen, pastors, if you're watching here, get a piece of paper and a pen because you're going to learn something today. This man uses this every year in his church and he's telling me this year his growth is exponential. So I'm just thrilled about this because the Lord is showing you, Pastor.
Three Life Principles Overview
Gary Brothers:Well, if you want me to get into those three life principles, I want to say that not only do I preach it every year, but there are several other pastors that have gotten my notes and preach this in their church every year. And any pastors that are watching — they can get my information from you. I'll be glad to email them my notes. It all belongs to Jesus. You can use it in your church, make it your own, whatever. You don't have to tell them you got it from me. Just get up and say, here's a word from the Lord — three life principles.
Philippians 4:8 and Fixing Your Mind
Gary Brothers:You know, Philippians 4:9 says — Paul wrote and said — the things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. I've learned that if we don't put the word of God into practice, the word of God doesn't work. It works when we put it into practice in our life. One of my favorite quotes is, God does not sit with sitters, he goes with goers. And when you put the word of God into your life, it produces life. That's what Jesus said — I've come that you may have life. Now, these three life principles are: accent the good, punctuate the excellent, and dismiss the bad.
Gary Brothers:Now, you know, if you operate a car — if you were driving your car without water, it would overheat. If you didn't have oil in the engine, it would have friction and seize up. If you didn't have brake fluid in the lines, it would lose control. Now the same principles apply to our lives, because we all face the possibility of overheating, having intense friction, and losing control — just like the war in Ukraine right now, the inflation, and all of the political nonsense and moral debauchery in America right now. If you focus on those things and that occupies your life, it will determine the direction of your life. But that's not God's intention.
Gary Brothers:You see, if you follow and apply these three principles in life, you'll begin to experience and maintain the experience of abundant life that Jesus promised in John 10:10. Now what I'm talking about today is a right attitude in life based on the word of God. My wife Rose once told me, no one is born with a bad attitude — we have to learn it and maintain it. We can also learn and maintain a good attitude.
Gary Brothers:Let's look at the first one — accent the good. Philippians 4:8, one of my many favorite scriptures. This is the New King James Version. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report — if there's any virtue, think on these things, meditate on these things. You know, the Amplified version renders that, fix your minds on these things. So yes, the question is, what do you fix your mind on — the problem or the solution? Quite frankly, we're trained to accent the bad.
Gary Brothers:From the time we're small, the news — bad news sells, good news doesn't sell. So the bad news is all that's there. So we see that every day — the bad, the negative in our life. And I've learned that you will gravitate toward your most dominant thought. If you think about buying a car, or you see the advertisement on TV, and then you drive by the car lot and you see one sitting there, the next day you drive by and you pull in and drive around and pull out. The next week you drive in, you stop to get out and look at it. You see the salesman, you get in your car and take off. But a week later the salesman is there and you take it for a drive, and before long you have bought an automobile that you don't need.
Chicken Little Mindset vs. Godly Perspective
Gary Brothers:And during that process you'll notice all the bad things about your current automobile — how it's about to fall apart, how it stinks on the inside. You will gravitate towards your most dominant thought. The same thing is true if you're married — about your marriage. If you start thinking about bad things about your spouse, if you start accenting the bad — I'm not saying there aren't some bad things, but you picked them to begin with, so there must be something good there. Accent the good about that. But if you accent the bad, you'll get to a point where you will arrive at the private logic that you can divorce and get rid of them and get somebody better.
Gary Brothers:You see, it's a temptation. It's a strategy of the enemy to get you to fix your mind, to focus on other things. That's why Paul said, if there's anything good, focus on that. You know, every one of us has gone up to the grocery store, and now it costs a lot more, but do you know, no matter how big that shopping cart is, you cannot get one of every item in that store into that shopping cart. There's no way you could get them all in a semi. So you have to choose. The same is true in life — you have to choose what you're going to put into your mind, what you're going to meditate on, what you think about.
Gary Brothers:Here's what happens. I've learned that if it's in your mind, it's only a matter of time before it's in your heart, and when it gets in your heart, then it will become an action in your life. Nobody just wakes up one morning and says, I think I'll go rob a bank. No, it's a process of time, and when you allow it to stay in your mind and you accent the negative, it will control your life. The good news is, no matter how much stress we face, God has already a strategy to face it. I just read it to you — Philippians 4:8.
Gary Brothers:You know, there's a children's story called Chicken Little. One day Chicken Little was sitting under a tree and an acorn fell on her head. She assumed immediately that the sky was falling. The sky is falling, the sky is falling. She runs to tell the king. Well, on her way she sees some of her friends — Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Loosey Goosey, and Turkey Lurkey — and all of these feathered friends bought into her story that the sky was falling, and they're all running to tell the king.
Gary Brothers:But she ran into somebody else — Foxy Loxy — who, upon hearing about the crisis, offers to help her find a shortcut to the king. Guess where the shortcut was? Right into his den, where he already had the hook in — some ducks and turkeys and all those feathered friends. He was ready. You see, Chicken Little took a very small event and turned it into a crisis. Newsflash — acorns fall off of oak trees. That's what they're supposed to do. It might hurt a little bit, but it's a natural occurrence.
Gary Brothers:I've seen people who run under falling acorns just to create a crisis in their lives — not only in church, but in their lives personally. They're always looking for something to create a crisis. Don't have the Chicken Little mentality. That's giving recognition to the bad. I have people say, well Pastor, I'm a realist. I'm just a realist. I see what's going on around me. Yeah, sure, I am too. You can recognize the bad without giving recognition to it.
Punctuate the Excellent — Psalm 18:46
Gary Brothers:Let me show you. Say you go to work tomorrow and you walk in and they say, we've shut down, we've closed the office, we're moving, and here's your pink slip — you're fired, you're laid off, you no longer have a job. Now you can have one of two responses. One response is you could throw up your hands, you could scream and yell and run into the parking lot saying, what am I going to do? The sky is falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling. I paid my tithes, I gave to my church, and I gave in the special offering, I sent Philip Cameron a $1,000 check for missions, and this is what you do for me, God? This is how you reward me? Thanks a bunch, Jesus. Thank you for nothing. Okay. Now you just gave recognition to the bad.
Gary Brothers:Or you can say to those people, thank you for employing me for these years. I appreciate the time here. Thank you very much. I wish you the best. Turn around and walk out to the parking lot and say, Father, before the beginning of time you knew this day was going to happen. You're my shepherd. The shepherd goes before me and prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Lord, you've already gone before me. You knew when I got this job the day I was going to lose this job. So I thank you that you've already provided for me a better job, because you're an upscale God — you always trade up — and you've got something better for me.
Gary Brothers:I thank you that you supply — not this job, you supply all of my needs according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. You supply them, Lord. I'm going to go home, have some sweet tea, and relax. Now you saw the bad — you lost your job — but you didn't give it recognition, because you honored God. I've got a lot of things to show so I'm going to speed through this.
Gary Brothers:The second thing is punctuate the excellent. Punctuate means to draw special attention to something — someone or an accomplishment — not to failures and disappointments, but to something special.
Philip:Are you still with me there?
Gary Brothers:I'm here, yeah. I'm watching you. I lost the screen here, so I'm going to get back. There we go. Thank you, Jesus. Psalm 18:46 — David did just that. He said, the Lord lives, blessed be my Rock, my salvation. What was he doing? He was punctuating the excellent. Take time to punctuate the excellent things in your life — your spouse, your friends, your children, your church family, your pastor. Punctuating the excellent is like anything else — it's a habit. A lot of people live their whole lives just punctuating the ignorance instead of the excellent, punctuating people's mistakes. Well, I'm just offering constructive criticism. Well, keep your corrective criticism and punctuate the excellent.
Gary Brothers:And don't overlook the up. When everything looks bad and run down, just wake up and say, I'm saved. Thank God, I'm saved. I've got a home in heaven. This life is like a vapor. One day I'm going to be in heaven with Jesus. I'm saved. I have eternal life. I have the promises of God. Don't overlook the up. Look for people in your life to accent and punctuate the excellent. And you know what, saying thank you is a good way to start.
Dismiss the Bad — Philippians 3:13-14
Gary Brothers:Now the third principle — and I want to get here quick if I've got just a few more minutes — because it's so important. If we don't do this third one, we won't be able to accomplish the first two very well. It's very, very important. And the third one is dismiss the bad. Accent the good, punctuate the excellent, and dismiss the bad. Now there are two areas of bad to dismiss. First is the past bad. Let's go back to Philippians, chapter 3, verses 13 and 14. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended or finished, but one thing I do — forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Gary Brothers:Paul didn't look backwards, and he had a lot to look back on — he destroyed homes, he had people executed, he orphaned children, and now he's preaching about Jesus. He had to look forward. You need to dismiss in your life any unpleasant event, hurt from others, memories, pains, or mistakes. Let me tell you about one in my life — I'm not going to tell you about all of them, there's a lot of them I don't want you to know about. When I was in school I played — I was the point guard for our basketball team. Now our team hadn't had a winning season in years, but that year we had a couple of good players and I was a fair one, and we started beating people. And then we played our rival that had beat us for 10 years and they had a good team.
Basketball Story and Dismissing Past Mistakes
Gary Brothers:And in the middle of the game the ball got loose. I was the point guard. I went for the ball and I beat their point guard to it, and I saw nothing but open court between me and the goal. I took off running, dribbling that ball as hard and as fast as I could. I was going to be on an ESPN highlight. Well, that was before ESPN, and the gym erupted. Both sides were screaming and yelling. Cheerleaders were running down the sideline. My coach was running down the sideline yelling at me, but it was so loud I couldn't hear anything. I thought, wow, they're cheering for me. They were not.
Gary Brothers:I went and laid that ball up off the glass — at the wrong end. Oh my Lord. Fortunately I had so much momentum I hit the backboard, it bounced off the front of the rim, and guess who got the rebound? Me. I grabbed that ball and took off the other way, and it looked like the Keystone Cops following me down the other end. We won the game by two.
Gary Brothers:If I had scored it would have been for them and we probably wouldn't have won. I wanted to dribble out the end of the gym, down the road on the gravel road to my home out on the farm, just keep going and leave and never go back to school.
Contacting Gary Brothers Ministries
Philip:Oh, that's brilliant, brilliant stuff. Listen, we have a minute — less than a minute ago. How can we get in contact? If you want to get in contact, it's garybrothersministries.com. Garybrothersministries.com — that is on the screen. I need you to get in contact with him and get these notes, and you could have a beginning of your year to put down foundational stuff that will give you something to build on for the entire year to come.
Philip:Pastor Gary, I hate the clock — we're out of time — but boy, you have blessed me today. We're coming back as soon as you can come back. Let's talk about the Holy Ghost, because I know that's something on your heart as well. Thank you for watching Daily Faith. We'll see you again soon. Bye.
Topics
gary brothersthree life principlesphilippians 4:8abundant lifebiblical mindsetattitude and faithpastors