brian jennings

Some would be glad for you to believe that the Church (big C; global church) is defined by a pastor who wants to burn Qurans. (Four notes about this:  1. The ridiculous amount of publicity surrounding one person will probably cost human lives. Thanks, media.  2. One preacher's stupidity may very well make the work of spreading Christ's message of love more difficult. This ticks me off, because I have close friends who are giving their lives to people in other parts of the world - people who are living in oppression and hopelessness.  3. If he wants to lead a political group, fine, but he needs to not couch it as a Bible-based group. Ephesians 6 is clear, "Our battle is not against flesh and blood." The enemy of the church doesn't wear skin.  4. I'm not sure if he is conniving, crazy, ignorant or stupid.)

The size (or lack thereof) of his church, the glaring inconsistencies (he leads Dove World Outreach Center  -where is the global outreach?), and the lack of support from other churches should make this story irrelevant, but it's all over the place. I'm sad for lots of reasons. The reason that I'm most sad is that this is not the Church. This is not even close to a decent representation of Christ. You wanna know what the Church is? Read http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1999/novemberweb-only/44.0d.html?start=1

In II Kings 19 Sennacherib, the powerful menace to Israel, threatens Israel and tells King Hezekiah, “Do not let the god you depend on deceive you...” In other words, "Don't trust your God; He can't save you."

Have you ever felt like your situation was too great, and God was too small?Have you ever heard things like:

“Don’t trust your God enough to do that with your life."

“Don’t trust your God enough to go along with His guidelines for sexuality; they won’t work."

"Don’t trust your God enough to not cheat at work."

"Don't trust your God enough to turn down that promotion that will harm your family."

"Don’t trust your god enough to volunteer that much time."

 Ultimately, this is the voice of Satan. Hezekiah realized this, and he prayed. When his back was against the wall, he acknowledged who God is - King, Ruler & Creator. When we view our problems from our perspective, it’s pretty overwhelming. But when we view them with the perspective that the Creator of the universe loves us, we can remain calm.

Yesterday's post reminded me of reading Oprah's little testimony about being turned off by a preacher saying that God was jealous. However, one cannot read Scripture without reading about this jealousy. It's not the unhealthy kind of jealousy that often struggle with. It's a holy & loving jealousy. 

If you are married, would you be jealous if your spouse started flirting with someone else? Yes! Would you be wrong to do so? No! And you would want your spouse to feel the same about you. God isn't jealous because He is insecure. He's jealous because He's asked us to enter into an intimate covenant relationship with Him. If you cheat on Him, it hurts Him. But it will hurt you too. In fact, if you turn away from Him, it will lead you to a life of ruin. When we think about this, we come to realize that a Jealous God is exactly what we want and need.

As people resettled in the restored land of Samaria, they brought their distorted views of God/gods with them too. God did all that he could to get their attention. The King of Assyria event sent a priest to proclaim the truth of God to them. But I Kings 17:33 says,

They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.

It's easy to notice a tribal people combining a worship of God along with their ancient worship of spirit worlds. But it's a little more difficult to see it in the mirror. Is it possible that we are guilty of the same thing? Could we worship God on Sunday, but then immediately return to serving our own gods in accordance with the customs of our nation (money, pleasure, sports, clothes, laziness, fame...)? Could we do our devotions at breakfast and then be back to our other worship by late morning?

God is never OK with this. You can't have two masters. More on this tomorrow.

When it comes to sin, we often think things like, "I need to do that less," or "I need to work on that." While both statement are true, I'm not sure they reflect the heart of God when it comes to sin.

Jehoida, a Godly priest, in keeping with a covenant he made between the king, the people, and the Lord, led the people in taking appropriate action against their sins. II Kings 11:18 says, "All the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altar." Get the point? This text reminds me of when the new Christians burned their witchcraft scrolls in Acts 19, when Moses crushed the golden calf into powder & made the people drink it, and when Jesus said, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off." 

So what's the point? We ought to confront the sin in our life this way. There is a difference in saying, "I'm gonna work on it," and saying, "With God's help, I'm gonna crush it." It doesn't mean that we might not still struggle. We will. But it does mean that we detest anything that pushes further away from God.

People often say that in a healthy family/business/church the values (assuming they are good) don't change but the methods sometimes do. I've been thinking about this, and I think they are correct, but the statement is often said with a defensive posture (someone defending some changes that they think are necessary). It's a shame that it should need to be said this way.

The Israelites, at their best, valued obedience to God. Often times this meant moving (changing). Numbers 9 tells of when they followed the cloud that God placed over the tabernacle. When the cloud moved, they were to move. When it stayed, they were to stay. So, in order to honor their values, they had to move (change). When the cloud moved, it was impossible to stay where they were and still be honoring their values. 

The same is true of us today. Not every new method or change is healthy or good. But if your family values communication to younger generations, you are going to need to change how you communicate (I'm proud of the great grandparents who have nervously wondered into Facebook land.) If your church values connecting with your community, you'll have to change some of the ways that you connect, as your community changes. If you value loving your spouse, and they experience a physical, emotional or situational change, you'll have change how you care for them. Not only is change OK sometimes; it's absolutely necessary, if you care about your values.

A crowd of people was recently asked, "Where were you 20 years ago?" I leaned over to Beth and said, "I know exactly where I was. I was playing my first round of gold with Matthew DeWelt. After playing golf, we went swimming, ate grilled cheese sandwiches, and then we went home and played Nintendo." That was one of the more fun days of my life - Summer fun with one of the best friends that I've ever had.

I was able to figure out that date so quickly because it was only four days later when Matt died in an auto accident. The impact that this event has had on my life is pretty huge. Below are a list of words that I could associate with this event's impact on my life (some are good and some aren't):

Grief      Anger      Faith      Memories

Resolve      Fear      Hurt      Thankfulness

Questions      Perseverance      Unstable

Love      Purpose      Witness

Twenty years have passed, and I'm still convinced that Matt is one of the Godliest people whom I've ever known. I'm still inspired by the faith of his family. I still feel my stomach turn when I think about the times that I started to walk to his house, only to remember that he was no longer there. I still smile when I think about the laughs that we had (which were plentiful and often out of control - I once threw up cause we were laughing so hard). I still have some questions, but I'm thankful for a sense of peace. I love that my firstborn is named after him - Cole Matthew. And I can't wait to see him again. 

Ever think that how you live today doesn't matter? Nothing could be further from the truth. The ripple effects of your life, whether good or bad, will still be shaping people 20 years from now, and 20 years beyond that, and 20 years beyond that... You probably will have little control over the cause or timing of your death, but you do get to choose what kind of impact you will leave. I hope mine can be like Matt's, or better yet, the One whom he followed. The cool thing is if I pattern my life after Matt, I'm patterning my life after Jesus too.

I read something that I wrote about 14 months ago. It was a good reminder of God's provision, and it led me to be so thankful for bringing the dream He placed in our hearts to a reality. (Note, our girl, Shurabe Eden, has been with us for 13 months now, so this was written a month before we got her):

Last night I woke-up three times, after three dreams. Dream #1: I met Eden (the little girl we are adopting from Ethiopia) and she had some physical problems that were going to need more medical attention than we thought. But I was really glad to meet her. And she was a couple of years older than I thought. Dream #2: I met Eden and she was about 12 years old, up to my chin, beautiful and spoke fluent English. And I was really glad to meet her. Dream #3: I met Eden and she was a really cute little three year old. She gave me a hug & I was really glad to meet her. Well, now you know what's on my mind. The challenge is to try to live in the present when my dreams are in the future. I think I did a really good job of this until about 2 weeks ago (when we failed our first court date). It's become harder ever since. Time hasn't gone by this slow since Algebra class.

In II Kings 6:24-7:20 a story of desperation is unfolding. The city of Samaria was besieged, the food was gone, and people were doing horrific things in order to stay alive. Four men with leprosy, who weren't allowed to be inside the city, decided that they would take their chances by going to the enemy camp. They figured that they would soon be dead if they stayed, so they went. Much to their surprise, they discovered an empty camp. God had caused the enemy to panic and flee. There was an abundance of food and valuables left, so the lepers started hiding it in secret places. They began operating under the false assumption that the goods belonged to them and weren't intended for others.

This is what we often do with God's blessings. We hoard them. We don't share the blessings with others. Thankfully, in a moment of clarity, they realized that what they were doing was not right. So they returned and told the people of the city. They shared God's provisions.

I challenge you to deeply consider two questions: How are you hoarding God's provisions? How can you share His blessings with others?

My daughter fell yesterday, and she had to get four stitches. To say that she flips out when hurt is a major understatement. During the three hours from when she fell to when the last stitch was put in, my wife and I must have said, "Take a deep breath" to her a hundred times. When we are scared and hurting, it's hard to remember to breathe. 

I started P90X (a really intense workout program) this past week. The instructor on the DVD often reminds us to breathe, and it was amazing how many times I had realized that I was not. I was holding my breath or just taking shallow breaths. Apparently, It's hard to remember to take deep breaths when you are out of breath or your abs are burning. 

I think it's pretty tough to take deep breaths in life too - especially when a crisis hits, a temper flares, stress builds, or our schedule races. But these are the times that we most need to take some deep breaths, pray, think and gather ourselves. Do you need to take some deep breaths today?

In II Kings 3 Elisha is asked by several kings to inquire of the Lord for them. When he agrees to help, he says, "Bring me a harpist." The next verse reads, "While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha..." Elisha does indeed hear from God, and he passes on some life-saving words to the kings. 

Ever wonder why music has been so historically important to the church? This story sheds some light. God doesn't need music in order to talk to us. But sometimes music helps prepare our hearts to receive His presence. I'm so thankful for the musicians, and media folks who help me hear from God. Your work is life-changing.

Who would have thought that a sermon on complaining would draw such a positive reaction? We realized that we hit a nerve with people on Sunday. I’ve rarely seen an audience more engaged. It was obvious that most of us struggle on many levels with this issue, and as we studied, it was also obvious that God thinks it is a vile sin. As one person said, “I never thought that complaining was a sin. Now I see that it is.” Now the difficult work begins - changing.  

I’ll be playing around with this site for the next couple of weeks. I’d love to get any feedback from you, before I decide to keep it or use something else. I want it to be very user-friendly and helpful for anyone who comes this way. Obviously, I don’t have all of my old blog posts up, but that’s something I’ll do in time. Leave a comment below if you have thoughts or suggestions. Thanks. 

If someone calls you a Trouble Maker, it might be because you have a divisive spirit. But it might be because you are honoring the Lord, even though others wish that you would quit. If this second option is the case, you are in good company. The murderous King Ahab called Elijah "Troubler of Israel" (I Kings 18:17), but if you read about these two figures, it's easy to find out that Elijah was doing exactly what God was asking of him. He was bold enough to act courageously for God. Many other Godly people have been accused of causing trouble too: Moses, David, Daniel, Shadrach, Paul, Peter, James, Wilberforce, Lincoln, MLK, and...... YOU? Maybe it's time for you, with an attitude of humility & grace (like Jesus), to cause a little bit of trouble too.