Author: bbrunke

Faith

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“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.”

I have to admit that at times my faith is not as strong as it should be. Whenever I read the “faith chapter” of Hebrews 11 I marvel at how the men and women of God accomplished amazing things for him. During my quiet time this morning I prayed, “God, grant me a Hebrews 11 faith!” Planting a church requires a tremendous amount of faith and I can only pray that God would hear and honor my request because the days and weeks ahead will be difficult. But I am confident in this promise,

“All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it…That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Lots a happening!

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Well the big news is out yesterday that Melissa is pregnant. Some other developments are in the works but cannot share all of them right yet. I can share about my involvement with the HOA where I live. Melissa and I live in the Bridgewater subdivision here in Douglasville and I have reached out to become involved. This past Saturday I was on the ballet for election to the board and this Saturday I will be walking the neighborhood with some of the other residents to collect enough votes to officially elect the board. The people in our neighborhood are interested in making this a great place to live and raise a family and in building a sense of community. God is a work and that excites me! Stay tuned for more updates!

Election Day 2008, Part 2

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I managed to stay up late enough to hear one of most inspiring speeches I have ever heard. Our new president Barack Obama has renewed my faith in America and given me hope for the future. I am extremely proud to say that I cast my ballot for him. I believe that he is the right leader and the right time and his legacy will be one of greatness. I deeply respect John McCain and the graciousness that he displayed in the campaign and in his speech last night. I pray that God would bless our new president and his family. Last night I saw in the faces of the people who stood around to listen to Barack’s speech the spark of hope. Perhaps the church can learn something from this election; we have the hope of eternity. Can we inspire people to act and believe as Obama has done?

Election Day 2008

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Today our nation elects a new leader and my hope and prayer is that people would vote for their candidate based on their own decision. This is the fifth election that I voted in and I can honestly say that this was one of the hardest when it came to choosing a candidate to vote for. In the past I have voted one way based on tradition and single-issue thinking. This time, I really began to ask the question of the candidates, “who is the best man to lead our country? I did not ask that question in the past and I sorry that I did not when I case my ballet previously. I believe that Barak Obama is the person who can best lead our country and I will be casting my ballet for him today. I am a registered Republican, but I believe in the change that he can bring to our country. I John McCain happens to win, then I will be satisfied in that people exercised their right to vote and America decided on him in the end. I pray for both of these men and the administration that they will be bringing into Washington in a few months. Our country has many challenges and I am committed to praying for whomever becomes our next president. Go vote today! If you don’t vote then you have not right to criticize the outcome.

Broken Reflections, Part 3

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In the March 1982 issue of Atlantic Magazine authors James Q. Wilson and George L Kelling introduce what they called the “Broken Windows” theory of crime fighting. Their theory was that if a city were to take seriously the enforcement of normally minor infractions such as aggressive panhandling, graffiti, and turnstile jumping that there would be a reduction in overall crime, including major felonies. Rudolph Giuliani used this theory for crime fighting to clean up New York City and greatly reduce the crime there.

In our upcoming sermon series we are going to be talking about the things in our life than can become broken if they are grounded in the person of Jesus Christ. If the “broken window” theory holds true for crime then it should hold true for our lives. I see this parallel in that we often let the “small things” in our life unravel which leading to the unravelling of much larger things. Often those things involve some of the issues that we will be touching on in this series: relationships, money, and sexual issues.

Broken lives often begin as broken windows! What is breaking down in your life that might seem small but if left unchecked could lead to greater problems later?

Broken Reflections, part 2

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We all have done it or know people who continue to do it. There is that one thing in our house or on our car that we know is broken but somehow we have managed to “jimmy-rig” it so that it still “functions” but in reality it is just busted. The other extreme is that we choose to ignore it and when someone else notices that it is broke we come back with, “oh yeah! I have been meaning to fix that!” Why do we choose to either ignore or “jimmy-rig” the things in our lives that are broken? Dealing with what is broken and is not working is hard and requires some work on our part and we have either become lazy or apathetic in taking the steps to make us whole again. It is my prayer that through our upcoming sermon series, we would see broken people who are struggling with real issues come to Christ and walk away with a new heart and mind!

Broken Reflections

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We are beginning a new sermon series on Sunday called “Broken” and my Bible reading this morning was from the book of Jeremiah. In Chapter 51 the prophet retells of how the city of Jerusalem was invaded by Babylon and the temple of Solomon was destroyed by the Commander of the Armies of Babylon.

Jeremiah 52:13

He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings[h] in the city.

This is the epitome of Broken; the hub and center of the Jewish faith was now destroyed. The place were “religion” was practiced had been taken away from the people of God. What were they to do now? As we learn in other places in scripture, the people of God learned to worship God in a new way and their worship of God was based on faith not religious practices. Turning to the book of Hebrew, the writer of that book looks back at the temple system and comments,

Hebrews 9:9

This is an example for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices offered cannot make the conscience of the worshiper perfect.10 These gifts and sacrifices were only about food and drink and special washings. They were rules for the body, to be followed until the time of God’s new way.

The Hebrew writer is saying that the sacrificial system is broken! It was always broken! Why do we cling to the things in our life which God has said are broken! Our biggest problem as Christians is that we cannot cling to the one thing that is not broken and will never be and that is the person of Jesus Christ! We place all of our hope and trust in things that ultimately will not last.

Hebrews 12:2

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen.

Broken

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Beginning this Sunday we will be starting a new series called, “Broken.” We will be looking at our finances, our relationships, our sex lives, and our human condition and if they are not grounded in the person of Jesus than they are broken. Here is the promo video for the series: