A new Name...

A lot of people don't realize that when they become a Christian they are given a new name.

Now in life we all have lots of names... my formal name is Brandon... but I also have had people use these other names to describe me in my life:
white, male, smart, stupid, shaggy dog, baldy, BJ, chunky, clever, jerk , *$(#&#, american, rich, student, cool, dork, nerd, strong, jock, loser, artistic, creative, messy, annoying, the squirrel, trouble maker, pastor, evangelist, sinner, hypocrit.

All of these titles have been used about me... I am sure there are more as well...

But here is the deal... when I became a Christian... all of those titles, even Brandon, became less important that my new title, "IN CHRIST." Jesus is the new title that means so much more than the rest...

"IN CHRIST" my sins are paid for, and I am restored to a right relationship with God

"IN CHRIST" I can live a new life

"IN CHRIST" I have access to God

"IN CHRIST" I have a restored meaning an purpose

"IN CHRIST" I am fully accepted and fully loved..

and

"IN CHRIST" I am not longer characterized by the good or bad labels about me...

Colossians says it this way,

3:11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."

I love that verse because it means that we are no longer a bunch of different groups, but one new group... the "IN CHRIST" group.... which welcomes everyone!

In Galatians, Paul goes even further:

Gal 3:26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

So here is the point... you have been given a new name.... it is more important than any other label you wear... even the name your parents gave you...

Why? Because this new name "in Christ" is the name that means you are God's special beloved child!

Worship Nite: GET READY!!!

Hey friends... this tuesday we will be responding to what God has done in our lives through the book of Colossians...

Take a look at the preparation guide in this post and come tuesday, ready to share with our nexus community what God is doing in your life!

Expelled... the movie... Check it out!

NAME brand clothes... (Jesus and the little Gods #4)

God's name and his reputation go hand in hand.

When you hear a persons name, it immediately brings to mind that persons reputation if you know them. For example if I say Mother Teresa and Britney Spears, both names would bring to mind a strong impression based on the life that each lived.

In the same way God's name is deeply tied with his reputation.

The ancient Israelites thought his Name and reputation were so amazing, that instead of actually saying his name, they would say the word "Name"

NAME sounds like SHEM in Hebrew.

If an ancient Israelite was reading the bible, they would replace the different names for God with the word shem while they read along...

IT was so important to them that God's name be treated with the respect it deserved.

Today things are different.

We are no longer afraid to say God's name, and we often do not think about how we are saying it, or what it means.

It is important that we realize that this is not good.

Paul taught in Colossians 3 that:

17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

As Christians we no longer live to create a name for ourselves, but to spread the reputation and name of God. We are his name bearers to the world. Almost like we are wearing a Jesus shirt... or NAME brand clothes

Here is the problem: Whatever people see us do while we are Christians, they assume that must be how God is too.

Our actions get attributed to him...

so when I sin, or lie, or steal, or am just mean... people think that God must be like that too. So be careful how you wear the name!

Has your life helped people to better understand who Jesus is?

are you more in love with the blessings or the BLESSER?

My friend Nick posted this on his blog. And I wanted to share because it really made me pause and think...

What do you think about it?

Half: Full or Empty? Of What!??

Half full or Half Empty really is the wrong question...

The right question is this... partially full or what?

If it is part full of Garbage... then it is bad... it doesn't matter if the glass is half full or half empty... what matters is that half of the glass has garbage in it...

In the same way, if the glass has poison in it... partially full or empty is not nearly as important as the substance present in the glass.

No on the other hand, if it is the right thing however... then the amount does matter.

If I am dying of thirst and there is some clean water in the glass... I want it to be fully full. Even half full would be better than nothing.

In the same way, our lives often get a bunch of stuff dumped in them... some good... some bad...

What is amazing is the Jesus wants to fill us up completely... not half full... or half empty... he wants to make us Fully Full. Plus he wants to fill us fully full with him. HIS LOVE, and Power, and Grace, and Acceptance.... GOD WANTS TO FILL US FULLY FULL with the best "stuff" in the entire universe.... himself!

Jesus desire is that the very infinite completeness that is in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, would be in us.

In Jesus all the fullness of Deity Dwells... in in Jesus we can have this fullness too if we let God fill us up so much that all the garbage gets washed out.

The Evolution of Brandon Brown? (and so what?)

I think that we often do not think enough about the universe... and particularly how incredible it is.

People often say that they believe in evolution because the science of it is incontrovertible. ... I am not sure what they mean by this.

According to science anything that cannot be proven by observation and extensive experimentation, is not a scientific absolute... it is merely a possibility.

We call these scientifically plausible possibilities Theories...

I am just not sure what it means to "believe" in a theory... That sounds sorta like faith to me. I mean if it was a proven fact, it would not be a theory and then no faith would be necessary...

SO... when I hear people talking about believing in the THEORY of evolution I am often confused... but I already said that....

What confuses me even more is when they say, usually trying to sound very intelligent, that they do not believe in God because they believe in evolution... and they are far to scientifically minded to believe in an unprovable myth such as God...

They further argue... that a bunch of philosophers or theologians created God because they are trying to explain all the things in the universe that they cannot understand... so because these religious people are too "weak" to deal with the reality of a Cold Evolving universe... they have chosen to believe in a Creator God instead...

SO now my head is spinning... When the scientists guess what must have happened an indeterminable number of millions of years ago and then baptize this unproven non-scientifically verifiable theory as the only logical choice for an educated person... that just sounds life faith to me...

it sounds like religion...

They must want to believe its true because are too "weak" to deal with the reality of a universe that they cannot understand scientifically because it is simply to large for science alone to grasp.

Maybe they make fun of everybody else because they are trying to convince themselves they are right.

I think that God created the universe. That is my FAITH assumption or Theory. I have been testing this my whole life... and the series of experiments that are my life keep verifying that my theory is right.

I cannot prove this with science... but science has never, disproven it... because it can't. Personally I think evolution would actually make me believe in God even more.

Who else but God would be able to create such an intricate system of planets and stars and life but God.

Who else would be smart enough to set a course of action in place that would take millions of years to reach its fulfillment.

The theory of evolution demands an Intellectual God capable of keeping track of the advancement of all things.


Maybe God Spoke and the there was a big Bang as he created all things....

that sounds almost like what the Bible says...

Colossians 1:16 For in [Jesus Christ] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,... all things have been created through him and for him.

So here is my thought... if you are going to set the course of your life on religious faith: GOD or Evolution... why not choose the one who made everything.... after all...

Colossians 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

What are idols?

Everyone worships something. In the Ancient days people used to make idols out of wood and stone and metal. They would select a tree and then cut it into pieces. From the pieces they would burn some to heat their house and make their food, and then use the rest to carve into an idol. Isaiah was a prophet of God who lived around this time. God sent him to tell people to stop making idols. He said,

Isaiah 44:16 Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
"Ah! I am warm; I see the fire."
17 From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
he bows down to it and worships.
He prays to it and says,
"Save me! You are my god!"

Isaiah though this was so stupid, and so did God.

19 No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding to say,
"Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a [idol] from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?"

Because the ancients wanted to be able to control their gods and make the gods do things for them, they made their gods small enough to carry around with them. They wanted to be able to manipulate their gods and make them do the things the people wanted.

Today, we do this as well in a few ways.

One way that we make idols is by creating celebrities that we can worship. You might not call it worship, but what else can it be. People lined up for hours just to see them. Girls and Boys obsessing over them and trying to be just like them. Screaming for them in ways that we would never think to scream for the real God (through maybe we should!). We worship them because they are so glamorous and cool, and we hope that by worshipping them we can maybe touch it in some way. God in Heaven feel to far away, so we created celebrities that are a little lower than the angels, and almost within reach. The problem though is that they are often famous for all the wrong reasons and have nothing truly important to say.

Another way we create idols is by the way we treat God. We grab ahold of a few verse about him, or a few ideas about him and then think we can control him to get what we want. We make him smaller than he really is so we can get a handle on him and control him. We want to make him perform for us in such a way that our lives are blessed in all the ways we want them to be.
So we call our god Jesus, or Father... but sometimes we really are worshipping a glorified reflection of Santa Clause who grants our wishes if we are "not naughty, but nice."

Jesus so much more famous than our little celebrities, and so much bigger than our little Fat bearded Santa-God. Jesus sits above the circle of the earth and knows everything, sees everything, and loves everyone. In the midst of all of this idol worship, Jesus is often seen as a forgotten relic of a dead religion. Though he is and always will be God, we see him as small, powerless, and plastic. We treat him as a good luck charm at best, and imaginary more often. But even in the midst of the lessor gods, Jesus remains both real and awesome. This universe exists for him and was created by him.

So you choose: Who will you worship? A god you made... or the GOD who made everything?

Cool Video about Life in on our little planet.

Check it out!

The Problem with Being "Mostly Dead"

A lot of Christians are mostly dead.

This is a really big problem because in order to be full in Jesus they have to die the rest of the way first. The old life has to go so they can start their new life... So if they don’t want to die, then they are going to need help, and it is not going to be pretty!


In Jesus all the fullness of Diety dwells in Bodily form, and in Jesus we are given all of this fullness. While those around us try to fill themselves up with everything that the world offers, for the Christ follower we are given ultimate fullness from God himself. This is not a quick fix, or easy, but it is true. When Jesus died, he took our sins with him, and in exchange he offers us his God-ness. It is a rags to riches story for which the world has never seen and equal.


But... to have this fullness we have to die to our old way of life. We cannot add Jesus to whatever we were already doing. To gain Christ, the old dies and we are reborn in a renewed image of him... It cost me everything that I have, in exchange for everything that he is.


Some have tried to have both, but they end up not being satisfied with either. It is a lot like falling on a barbwire fence with one leg on each side... it hurts no matter who you are...

But for the foolish few who choose Jesus, the world will never look the same again. They are now awake to something bigger than themselves, and Christ himself works powerfully within them to remake them into the people they were always supposed to be....