Archive for the 'Chris Brauns Radio Spots' Category

What’s Your Approach to the Lord’s Day?

Published
by
Chris
on November 18, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots and Church
. 1 Comment

My mom has this story about hiding from her parents while she read a book on Sunday afternoon. She read secretly because she grew up in a church tradition that was militant about how you spent Sunday. Sunday was reserved for church and sleeping and little else. They were not allowed to watch television or read pleasure books. They could only read their Sunday School papers and the Bible. Laughter was discouraged.

My mom grew up with an unfortunate extreme.

But, I doubt that many people listening today are too rigid with the Lord’s Day.

As a matter of fact, we have gone into the opposite ditch. For many, church attendance has become an elective behavior that we do if our health is perfect and it happens to fit into our recreational schedules.

My friends, we are treating church attendance on the Lord’s Day far too casually. True: attending church does not merit or earn us salvation. We are saved only on the basis of grace. And, there are legitimate reasons for missing church services.

But, God never intended that His people would sporadically attend church when it fit into their schedule. The Bible specifically commands us to not forsake being together with His people.

You do not want to miss the incredible blessings of being consistently with God’s people. It is not worth it. If you are not consistently attending church, you are giving up way too much.

For Those Feeling Guilty

Published
by
Chris
on November 10, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots
. 0 Comments

Now that the election is over and the dust has settled, I look back on it all and there is a group of people for whom I feel particular empathy. My heart goes out to women who chose to have an abortion and now feel that they can never be forgiven. As the abortion debate rages on, they are reminded continually of their mistake.

I wonder if there is someone listening now who feels ongoing guilt over the decision to have an abortion. Maybe for you it’s a secret sin. Even your family doesn’t know about the pregnancy. Deep down, you think you can never be forgiven.

If that is where you are at, you feel continually guilty about an abortion or some other sin, let me be your pastor for just a few seconds. The book of Hebrews describes the supremacy of the priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10 focuses on the sufficiency of Christ’s death on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. Verse :13 reads

“because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.(Heb 10:14).”

If you believe in Jesus, then he has paid the penalty for your sin once and for all. Even if you chose to have an abortion.

But, remember, you are forgiven only if you truly turn in repentance from your sin, and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you are haunted by something in your past, be assured that there is hope because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Talk to the pastor of a Bible believing, Christ-centered church, soon.

Where is the Power of God that Parted the Red Sea?

Published
by
Chris
on October 27, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots and Word of God
. 1 Comment

Do you ever wonder why you do not know more of the power of God at work in your life?  We know that God spoke all things into existence.  The Bible describes how the voice of God shakes mountains and parts the sea.  One word from God will close the mouths of lions or bring young men through a blazing furnace.  And, yet, we have a hard time not losing our temper with our spouses.

How can we know the gracious power of God at work in our lives?

The answer to that question has to do with a concept sometimes called “means of grace.”  The Bible teaches that God does graciously work in our lives.  But, he does not do this in mystical, unexpected ways.  Rather, God works through certain appointed means, or in certain ways.

These ways that God works in our lives include prayer, the study of Scripture, hearing the word preached and close friendships and fellowship with other believers.

I remember when I first really begin to understand this concept of cooperating with God’s appointed means of grace.  I was working on my MBA at the University of Northern Iowa.  I began attending a group where the Scripture was proclaimed.  I also developed some close Christian friendships and at one point made it my goal to read through the book of Philippians on a daily basis.  The results were stunning.  I suddenly found myself growing as a believer in ways I never could have expected or manufactured on my own.

Only believers who cooperate with God’s appointed means of grace - - who pray and fellowship and hear the Word preached will consistently know the power of God at work in their lives.

The Problem With GPS in the Christian Life

Published
by
Chris
on October 19, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots
. 2 Comments

I was driving back from Dekalb the other day and I figured out Joyce, who was riding along with me, is a bad influence.

It’s a long story, but Joyce is what I call my GPS unit. When I’m going somewhere that I don’t know, Joyce tells me where to go.

Joyce is usually right. And, we get along okay. I don’t generally rebel.

The trouble with simply obeying Joyce is that I never learn the map. So, I always rely strictly on the rules she gives without understanding the overall picture. Joyce barks out orders. And, I don’t generally look at the big picture.

Sometimes we as Christians try and live the Christian life by listening to a legalistic version of Joyce rather than by learning the map. If all we do is follow a verbal set of instructions, we’re bound to lose our way when the rules don’t allow for the detours that come up in life.

Rather than living rigidly by a legalistic list, Christians should pray Philippians 1:9-11, Lord, this is our prayer that our love would grow increasingly in knowledge and depth of insight so that we would discern what is best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Christ to the glory and praise of God.

Don’t just follow a legalistic GPS that sits on your dashboard and tells you what to do. Learn the map by immersing yourself in the Word so that you’re able to test and approve what God’s will is –his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Chasing Forgiveness Rabbits

Published
by
Chris
on September 29, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots and Forgiveness
. 0 Comments

What are your “forgiveness questions”?

Theologian Cornelius Plantinga once wrote that anyone who thinks very long about forgiveness will scare up a lot more rabbits than he can chase down.  What Plantinga meant by that quote is that the area of forgiveness raises so many questions.

How can I forgive her for doing that?

Must I always forgive?

What if I can’t forgive?

How can I forgive myself?

Should everyone be forgiven?

Forgiveness questions are not merely theoretical.  Life is relationships and in a fallen world, we all have to unpack forgiveness.  One reason I wrote my first book, Unpacking Forgiveness is because all people need to work through forgiveness questions based on biblical teaching.

Writing from the Land of Lincoln

Published
by
Chris
on September 23, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots and Church
. 1 Comment

In 1832, if you had asked a 23 year old Abraham Lincoln what he thought of the area that is now Stillman Valley, Lincoln probably wouldn’t have wanted to talk about it.  Here on the ground that is now Stillman Valley, a young Lincoln helped bury soldiers who had been killed in a disastrous skirmish with Blackhawk’s warriors.  Many of the dead were scalped or decapitated.  It was a gruesome scene of senseless death and barbaric acts.

Having witnessed such horror in this part of Ogle county, Lincoln might have suggested that a town be built somewhere else.

But, it wasn’t the end for this blood soaked ground.  God is a God of redemption.  Twenty six years after the battle of Stillman’s Run, our church, the Congregational Christian Church of Stillman Valley , “the Red Brick Church’ was formed.  By God’s grace, for 150 years we have worshipped a short walk from where Lincoln helped buried mutilated soldiers.

This coming weekend, September 27-28 is Fall Festival in Stillman Valley.  My children will scramble for candy on the same ground where soldiers died in the Blackhawk war.  And, our church will continue our 150 year celebration with a goal of being a Christ-centered, evangelical church.  We’re having an open house so people can see our new remodeling project and we’ll be giving out bottled water, balloons, and birthday cake.

Discipline, Not Desire, Determines Destiny

Published
by
Chris
on September 15, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots
. 0 Comments

Here’s a quote to meditate on.  It’s not from the Bible and I am unsure of its source but it is a wise insight.

“Discipline, not desire, determines destiny.”

Let me give it you again,

“Discipline, not desire, determines destiny.”

Isn’t that so true?  The problem isn’t that people don’t desire to lose weight or get their finances under control or quit looking at the wrong things on the Internet.  But, it isn’t enough to simply want the right things.  We also need to be disciplined or self-controlled.

But, for all our desire to be more personally disciplined, we live in a culture of vanishing self-control.  Addictions, debt, and poor health rule too many lives.

The reason that so many fail in the area of personal discipline or self control is that they don’t know how to move forward with God’s help.  They don’t know how to be disciplined, “by grace.”

In a new series, beginning October 5, I will explain a Christ-centered foundation for self-control.  Through biblical teaching, together we will learn how the foundation of a disciplined life begins with Christ and his power and works out through all of life.

On the Centrality of Baptism

Published
by
Chris
on August 31, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots and Church
. 1 Comment

What would you say if you were a pastor, officiating at a wedding ceremony and the bride decided that she was going to decline accepting the wedding ring? Can you picture that?

A wedding is the establishment of a sacred covenant. The wedding ring is the symbol of the establishment of that covenant. If I was officiating at a wedding where the bride refused to accept the ring, I assure you that there would be no signing of the wedding license after the ceremony.

What would you say if you were a pastor and the bride refused the ring?

Or, let me ask it to you this way. What would you say, if you were the pastor and someone in your church said they have professed faith in Christ, yet they prefer not to identify with Jesus in baptism? Scripture said that Jesus established a New Covenant with his people by the breaking of his body and the shedding of his blood. We participate in this covenant by professing true faith in him. We publicly identify with his death burial and resurrection by being obedient in baptism.

The idea of someone saying that they are a follower of Christ, but refusing to identify with him in baptism, is as troubling as a bride who takes a pass on the ring ceremony at her wedding.

I am Pastor Chris Brauns at the Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley. If you have professed faith in Christ, and yet have not yet been baptized, I encourage you to call your pastor today and commit to baptism.

This Week’s Word: Justification

Published
by
Chris
on August 25, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots and Doctrine
. 0 Comments

Let me give you a doctrinal vocabulary word today

This is one of the most important words in the human vocabulary.  The church Reformer Martin Luther said that in it are contained all the other doctrines of the Christian faith.  Luther also said that this is the doctrine on which the church rises and falls.  Think of that.  According to Luther, if a church failed to truly understand and proclaim this one word, then it would no longer truly be church.

The word is “justification.”  Justification is legal word.  It is the idea that when we truly believe in Jesus for salvation, God the father legally pardons us for our sins and imputes to us the righteousness of Jesus.  Picture a courtroom setting with yourself on trial and you know that you are guilty.  But, Jesus approaches the court and says that you have truly believed in Him, that he has paid the penalty for your sin, and therefore the gavel of the Heavenly Father comes down declaring that you are no longer guilty of sin.

Not only does justification mean that the Father no longer holds the believer’s sin against him or her.  But, God also imputes Jesus’s righteousness to the believer, or thinks of the righteousness of Christ as belonging to believers.

Paul says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”  If you are a hurting person dreaming there is an answer, there is.  And, the answer is found through truly believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reach Out to Those Who Unplug from Church

Published
by
Chris
on August 18, 2008
in Chris Brauns Radio Spots and Church
. 1 Comment

You can probably think of someone who has stepped away from involvement in a local church. There are many reasons people decide to pull away.

They find a sport or some other form of entertainment that takes the place of church,

they keep putting off finding a new church home,

they are disillusioned with churches because of a past conflict,

or they feel guilty about choices they have made.

Maybe someone you know is angry with God about circumstances he or she has faced and as a result has wandered away from the faith.

Whatever the reason, we know that this quitting cannot be an option. God sometimes calls people to switch churches, but Hebrews 10:25 explicitly commands believers to be a vital part of a local church.

And, James 5:19-20 tells us:

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins (James 5:19-20).”

These are the last verses in James and their meaning is amazing. The fact is says James, that God uses people to turn other people back to Himself. And, if God uses you in that way, then you are being used to save such a person from judgment of God and a lifetime of hurt. Are you willing to be used to turn someone back to Christ?