Archive for February, 2009

Friday Is For Fun

2009
02/27
CATEGORY
Friday
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Stirred Affections Part 7: Deep Conversation

Of all the social networking that is going on today with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc., I still don’t think anything can replace sitting down with a cup of coffee with a few friends and talking for hours. Like nothing else it sharpens me, knocks the edge off me, draws me out of myself and most of all, stirs me up for Christ.


I would take one good conversation over 10 sermons. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love sermons, I think we need as many of them as possible, God uses them in our lives like nothing else. But if those sermons are never talked about over dinner, lunch, coffee, etc., they really don’t matter. Unless the people of God take what they have heard from the word of God, and bring it into their ordinary lives, it really hasn’t impacted them the way it should. 

So talk to people. Set up meetings to just talk; about the Gospel, about your life, about what you’re thinking and feeling. This doesn’t have to be an “official” thing that happens at the same time every week, but it needs to happen sometime. Be intentional. Pray about what to talk about. Listen to God on behalf of your friend or spouse or child and think what it might mean to present yourself to them in a way that makes Christ look good. 

Here are a few thoughts I just had about preparing for a conversation
  • Plan to listen, instead of talk
  • Seriously, plan to listen
  • Avoid lots of small talk
  • Pray for the other person
  • Imagine an unbeliever is listening if its you and another Christian
  • Imagine another Christian is listening if its you and an unbeliever
  • Watch who you talk about (words can get away from us)
  • Resolve to edify the person
  • If there is conflict between you two, resolve to move through it gracefully
  • Remind the person that Christ has given them new life to indulge in
  • Know that revolutions and movements begin and continue in coffee shops, not just church buildings
GB
2009
02/26
CATEGORY
Conversations
Stirred Affections
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Them Breazeales

Just launched a new site called Them Breazeales. It will mostly be about the baby, since Heather and I will be totally forgotten by friends and family when it comes! Wanted to go ahead and launch it so I can get ready to add pics and vids to it ASAP! So put it into your favorites, we might get a new domain name for it in the future. 


THEM BREAZEALES

Also I have placed a poll on this blog about whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Be sure to cast your vote!

GB
2009
02/24
CATEGORY
New Site
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Stirred Affections Part 6: Good Quotes

Typically it is not entire books that stir me up for Christ, but quotes from those books. So good quotes rank pretty high on my list of things that stir me up for Christ. I can remember a good portion of paragraphs if I have just read a book, but over time it is the six to ten word sentences that really stick in my head and stir me up for Christ. In fact it is typically the shorter verses in the Bible that I rely on like:


When I am afraid, I put my trust in you (Psalm 56:3).
To live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

Short sentences have a way of shaking me out of a spiritual slump and jolting me to awareness of God. So I would encourage you to memorize a few quotes from books that you have read or that you are reading. Typically you will not have to work too hard on them if they really impact you. So I will leave you with a few from some of the people I have read recently, I will only cite the work, not the page number since most of this is from my own memory.

The distinctly kingdom question is not, How should we vote. The distinctly kingdom question is, How should we live.” (Greg Boyd, Myth of a Christian Nation)

God is most gloried in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” (John Piper, Desiring God)

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” (CS Lewis, Mere Christianity)

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” (CS Lewis, Mere Christianity)

Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cant imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (CS Lewis, The Weight of Glory)

We are all too Christian to really enjoy sinning, and all too fond of sin to really enjoy Christianity.” (Peter Marshal, Whiter Than Snow)

The primary reason people are in bondage to sin is because people are bored with God.” (Sam Storms, Pleasures Evermore)

The paradox of death leading to life requires that you disappoint many to please One.” (Dan Allender, Leading With A Limp)

We need to make people want Christianity to be true. Then we might be able to persuade them that it is true.” (Tim Chester, Total Church)

GB
2009
02/24
CATEGORY
quotes
Stirred Affections
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Friday is For Fun

2009
02/20
CATEGORY
Friday
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Stirred Affections Part 5: Ironing

OK, that is not spiritual at all, I know! But I really love to iron. I learned in college to be honest, and it seems that there is something about it that relaxes me and almost every time I find myself being grateful to Christ. Maybe its because of the sense of accomplishment I get, maybe its the excitement of preaching the next day since I usually iron on Saturday nights, maybe its the joy of dressing up and going out with Heather, maybe its the sound of the steam from the iron, or perhaps its the fumes from too much starch! I dont know. But in those 5 or so minutes my heart is filled with love and awe for Christ. 


I think many times when it comes to household chores like ironing and washing dishes, we do these things as a means to an end. We wash dishes in order to watch TV, read a book, attend a meeting, etc. But we rarely wash dishes just to wash dishes! So I would encourage you to enjoy some of the mundane things in your life, like ironing, and see which ones you really enjoy and let your husband or wife do the ones you dont! (Probably not gettin by with that one!)

GB
2009
02/18
CATEGORY
Stirred Affections
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Stirred Affections Part 4: Weighty Music

I dont know anyone who doesn’t like music. They may like Country music, but at least they like music! Music transcends all cultures and languages, there is something fixed in us it seems, that longs for music.  Music has a way of stirring my affections for Christ. When I am weighed down and anxious and hurried, God has a way of using music to stir me up for Christ and center my life back on Him. 


I do not have in mind a particular kind of music. Many Christians think that unless music is “Christian” they cannot listen to it and God cannot use it to create worship in them. But there really is no such thing as Christian music, only Christian lyrics, and sadly many of the Christian lyrics over the past few years make me wonder if the artist is singing about Jesus or some teenage boy! (OK that was a cheap shot!) 

But God has used everything from Beethoven to the Beatles to the Braveheart soundtrack to Jars of Clay to U2, to stir affections in me. I do not mean that content is not important, it is! But I do not think all music must have a Christian label to make me want Christ more. To the pure, all things are pure (Titus 1:15). Music requires that we be intentional. I think there are two ways to listen to music.

To Forget
Music has a way of making us feel better and forget about the problems and the weight we are carrying. It plays on our emotions and feeds our adrenaline and can cause us to be sentimental, angry, depressed, happy, etc. But music should never be a means of escape or to make us forget.

To Remember
Music always has a way of making us remember. First of all it reminds us of God. We remember that He is in control, He is good, He is near, He is sovereign, He is King over all. We need to remember this. There is a reason why the Israelites sang as they travelled to up to Jerusalem, they were remembering God. This is why content at times is important. 

Also, music can make us remember that life is not as serious as we take it at times. This, for me, is where songs that really have no spiritual value or depth come in. We need times of levity, laughter, celebration, silliness. Music can aid this. 

I must admit though, that the kind of music that seems to stir me the most for Christ is what I would call weighty music. I cant really define it, I just know it when I hear it. Usually this takes the form of some kind of worship music, perhaps a new rendition of an old hymn or a theologically filled praise song, but not always. Lately the Braveheart soundtrack has done the trick!  So I try to listen to this kind of music throughout the week as I drive, as I work sometimes, as I read Scripture, and as I do, I savor Him more. 

GB
2009
02/16
CATEGORY
music
Stirred Affections
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Friday Is For Fun

Britain’s Got Talent 2007
2009
02/13
CATEGORY
Friday
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Stirred Affections Part 3: Aslan



OK, its kinda circular to say that Aslan stirs me for Christ, since in a way Aslan is the Christ. At least he is the Christ in the world of Narnia. But let’s not get too technical! I cant tell you the number of times that God has used Aslan to draw me out of self-absorption, self-consciousness, and self-pity.


Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia is sort of the Sovereign Absentee, he is always lurking behind the scenes, showing up at the last minute, and quietly weaving his grand scheme for Nania. It is hard for me to read the stories and not get teared up when Lewis makes reference to him.

He is big and mysterious and powerful and scary; but gentle and kind and playful. Reading about him makes me wish there were someone like him. But then I am reminded that there is! Christ is to this world, what Aslan is to Narnia, and more! Lewis certainly believed this.

Once he had some letter correspondence with a nine-year old American boy whose mother said her son was committing idolatry by loving Aslan more than Jesus. Lewis responded:
“The things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply the things Jesus really did and said.” (Ford, Companion To Narnia)
There were even times when Lewis reported that Aslan had been good to he and his wife, who was recovering from an illness.

So I try to read the stories at least once a year. If you do not have them, I would encourage you to get them, not just for your kids, but for yourself. Aslan was the most feared and treasured creature in all of Narnia, and through him Lewis reminds me that Christ is the kind of Person who is as likely to tear me to shreds, as He is to hold me in His arms and satisfy my soul with His goodness and glory. After all, Christ is the Lion-like Lamb and the Lamb-like Lion.

GB
2009
02/12
CATEGORY
Aslan
CS Lewis
Stirred Affections
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Prayer: Meridas and Mortons

Two couples that Heather and I love and admire very much are the Meridas (Tony and Kimberly) and the Mortons (Rick and Denise). Both of them have been in the process of adopting children from the Ukraine for sometime now. In fact Rick and Denise are there now trying to seal the deal! They have a court date for tomorrow!


Kimberly has recently posted an update on her blog about their status. There is a chance they could be traveling in the next few months to hopefully get their new child(ren)! 

You can check out their blogs for updates. Just wanted to let you know so you could pray for them. Not to mention the joy of having children, the picture adoption displays about the Gospel is absolutely…well biblical! These are children who, for whatever reasons, are without moms and dads to love them and care for them. In some sense they are not wanted. 

Lest we forget, we were dead in our sins and quite unlovely, but because of Gods love for us, He adopted us and we now call Him “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:5-7). 

Be The Glory (Kimberly’s Blog)

GB
2009
02/11
CATEGORY
Adoption
1 comment
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