:::. joshbrickey.com .:::

Real blessings from God

I stumbled on this Francescan benediction the other day and God has really been using it to wreck me.  Just thought I'd pass it along:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

There's gotta be more...

I have had some thoughts that have consumed me over the past few years. It may not be on my mind all of the time, but it's definitely on my mind a solid majority of the time.

Have you ever had dreams and goals that you cannot shake? What things are constantly on your mind and constantly in your heart? Whatever those things are, those are most likely the vision that God has placed within you. So many times as Christians, we take the safe road whenever we are making decisions. We typically don't like to take risks and we love to take comfort in what we know will "work.' Yet, I can't help but think that when we play it safe, we're disobeying God. Hear me out. That doesn't mean that we are to do things completely on a whim, and know that God's dreams will never contradict values and concepts set forward in the Bible (i.e. neglecting your family, using people to get what you want, etc...). But it does mean that we do need to pursue His dreams no matter what.

So I ask again, what is it that God has placed on your heart?

Maybe it's time for you to pursue that career that you have always wanted (even though your current one is safe)

Perhaps it's time to help that person that you can't get off of your mind (even though you don't know what's going on in their life).

It might be time to go ahead and adopt an orphan (even thought you can't afford it---but miraculously have the money to make payments on a new car).

Whatever it is...pursue God without reservation.

Flashback to 2005...

So I found this website that archives content on the internet. If you go to this site, you can see what was on a lot of websites up to 10 years ago! Long story short, I looked up my site and found some posts that I had thought had been lost when I changed blog hosts. Anyways, here's a flashback to October 22, 2005. It's a post that I had written after going to a Byrnes football game called "Freddy and the Byrnes Game." As a side note, it was also right when Patty and I started dating and when Robin Hunt had just moved to the Upstate.

Tonight I went to see the infamous Byrnes Rebels beat the snot out of Dorman. The crowd was huge so we had to sit in the grass towards the endzone right in the midst of an interesting variety of people. Anyways, there was this dude that was sittin’ down in front of us that was going ballistic whenever Byrnes was doing something good. He would fling his arms around and give people high fives. SO….I decided that my the goal for the football game was to get a high five from this guy at some point before the game ended. I am pleased to announce to you that I got not only one, but TWO high fives from the man, who informed me later that his name was Freddy. I had no clue who the guy was before the game, but I started talkin’ to him cuz he seemed like a dude that would be interesting (that’s an understatement). After a while, Freddy was tellin’ me about how he played football (and two or three other sports) in high school, loved Nascar, and I heard countless stories about sports and life in general. It was hilarious!

Freddy is just another example of something that I have noticed lately. I’ve noticed that people generally will open themselves up to you and tell you about their life if you take the initiative and strike up a conversation. It has happened with me in so many places lately that I can’t help but sit back and think of the possibilities that could result if believers would invest themselves into the people around them. I’m not talking about a fleeting “hey…how are you” conversation, nor conversations that must include a gospel presentation. What I am talking about is breaking the ice with people and listening to their story. I’m talking about not seeing them as a target for conversion or for church membership but rather listening and interacting with them wherever they are in life. Heck…you can even (gasp) end your own masquerade and reveal who you really are to them (but that’s a whole other topic).

By the end of the night, I felt as if I had made a real connection with Freddy and with some other people that were with him. I listened to their stories, laughed with them, exchanged high fives, and genuinely had a good time. And to think, I would have missed out on all of that if the ice hadn’t been broken. Just somethin’ to think about.

Brother Josh

Apparently, I have arrived. In the past week or so, I have had TWO different people refer to me as "Brother Josh." I don't know what I did to garner the recognition, but I must have finally made it to the magical threshold of respect that causes someone to call me "brother."

Now...let's be clear, there are many different uses of "brother," some of which I had received plenty of times before. For instance, some use it as a way of expressing a greeting between friends (e.g. "What's up my brother?). Quite often, it's used in church as a kind of shorthand for "brothers in Christ." But the way it was used in the past couple of weeks was different. Let me explain.

I once served at a church where I was reprimanded for not referring to the pastor as "Brother Hezekiah" (Names have been changed to protect those in question). I simply referred to him by his first name while speaking which OBVIOUSLY meant that I didn't respect him. When I asked if that meant that I should be called "Brother Josh" they told me "No...that's different." Hmmm.

So...I must have made it to the this new level of Brotherdom. I've arrived to a certain level of ministerial respect. I don't think I did anything in particular Maybe it's just that I am coming close to creeping out of my twenties and losing some hair. That obviously means I'm getting wiser.

Now if only I could take the next step and move up to a cooler title like "Bishop Brickey," "The Right Reverend Josh," or maybe even "Pope Joshua I." Maybe I can get one of those cool cars, too.

Healer

About a week ago news broke that Mike Guglielmucci, a pastor who has written a lot of great worship songs, including Healer, had been been faking having cancer for the last two years. According to an article about the story, Guglielmucci had a history of illness caused by grief over an addiction to pornography. He basically covered it up and it led him to make up a story of having cancer to explain his symptoms.

There has been a lot of backlash by a lot of people to this story, so I wanted to give my two cents about it. First of all, there is no doubt that what Mike did was wrong. I can't imagine lying about something of that magnitude to my family. However, I am moved by compassion when I read the news about his story because I see Christ moving in his life. He has taken a step that most of us aren't willing to take about the sin in our lives: true confession. With so many people quick to condemn Mike for his actions, I can't help but think about when Jesus said "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone." We all try to hide sin in our lives, and most of us even make up things to cover it. The best thing that could ever happen to you is to tell someone about your sin. Christ will forgive.

Honestly, I think that the words of the song Healer has even more power now. God is more than enough for Mike Guglielmucci's sin, and He is more than enough for any sin in your life. What is it that you haven't confessed? What is it that you are not repenting from?

We could all learn a lesson from Mike. He'll probably never read these words, but Mike...if you ever do read this...God has forgiven you and you have a lot of courage to come forward. He is your healer and you will soon discover a depth of knowing God that you have never experienced before. I'm praying for you and I know that God is going to use your story to impact others. He already has.

To see video video of Mike leading the song Healer, click here.

Downtown Stroll...

I gotta admit...my family loves to go down to downtown Greenville. Sometimes it's just to go on a stroll in the park with Isaiah. Other times it's just to get out and find something to eat. Heck...yesterday we went not once, but twice.

Anyways, last night we simply decided we wanted to get out of the house so we went downtown just to walk around. Apparently a church, who I will keep anonymous, was having an event downtown. I guess that as a part of their event, they decided to hand out bottles of water to people on the street. We saw a couple of teens that had some water to hand out, and being that we were sweating and thirsty, we decided to stay close to them so that they would give us one. Long story short...these two girls walked right with us for the longest time, passing at least 40 people that could have used a drink (especially the poor family with the baby next to them). They finally saw some guys that apparently must need water (and Jesus) more than everyone else. They gave the guys some water, walked away saying "Jesus loves you," and I heard them whisper "walk fast...keep going."

Here's the deal. These girls were as full of Christ's love as Mandy Moore in the movie Saved. They were really more full of crap than anything. But it got me thinking. How many people are right around me that need to be shown God's love and I'm so full of myself that I don't even notice that they are right there? People who are not only longing for it, they're practically begging for it and we don't even give them the time of day. We simply walk fast and keep going away from them.

I thought about this passage. Truth hurts doesn't it.

On a side note... it wasn't the church that was downtown that met our need for nourishment. It was this place.

Ed Stetzer at WiBo

NOTES FROM STETZER:
* For many of us in ministry, somewhere along the way we’ve gotten the idea that it is sinful to say “Why God?
* Main Idea- Doubt
* You can’t get to faith without doubt
* For most at the conference , ministry is not going to look like what you see on stage.
* Ministry pornography – Unrealistic picture of a ministry that you are never gonna have.
* John 14: Thomas tells Jesus that he doesn’t get it. Jesus lets him know that He is the way, truth, life and the only way.
* The misapplication is to say that Thomas is bad for doubting. We need to be able to ask “Why?” in the midst of hurt.
* Do you know what they call people who are happy all the time? Mentally Ill.
* The Bible never promises we will always be happy.
* The Gospel never lasts through the first tragedy if we teach people that we’re to always be happy.
* God is not afraid of your questions.
* God is not in heaven hoping you’ll have your best life. God is in heaven longing for people to be forgiven of their sin and delivered from the curse of sin.
* Saying “I don’t know” to a lost person is not a sign of immaturity
* God doesn’t promise answers, He promises us Himself.
* God doesn’t always speak happiness…He always speaks peace.
* Jesus = Lord = He calls the shots in my life (this leads us to repentance)
* God’s enough for me in the midst of hurting.
* My Lord & my God will help us through our unbelief.

Darrin Patrick at WiBo

NOTES FROM PATRICK:
* Romans 1:18-25
* How people change and how to turn from idols in our life.
* Sin is when we exchange the object of our worship. We stop worshiping God and start worshiping creation instead of creator.
* You were made to be captivated by something greater than yourself.
* 1 John 5:21 (summation of 1 John)- Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
* The way to serve other people, to love God? Stop serving idols.
* What is an idol? Anything other than God that I put in the place of God.
* An idol is something you look to for meaning. It can even be your ministry.
* Sin happens because we treasure our idols more than we treasure God.
* If we break commandments 3-10, it is because we have broken commandments 1 and 2.
* “An idol is anything in my life that occupies the place that should be occupied by God alone.” “Lord I trust you, but I have to have _____.” “When I get this…then I’ll be happy.”
* Most of the time, we’re clueless about our idols, but we can see others.
* You usually only see your idols when they’re threatened or disturbed.
* Who am I if I’m not a pastor? It doesn’t matter!
* Invite the Holy Spirit to expose the things you’re trusting in other than God.
* How to discern idols in our heart: What do you worry about the most? What if I failed or lost it, it would cause me to fell like I didn’t want to live? What do I rely on when things get difficult? What do I do to feel better? What do I think most easily about? Where does my mind go when it’s free? What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about? What makes me feel the most self worth? What do I want to be known for? What prayer unanswered would make me seriously think about turning away from God? What do I really want or expect out of life? What is my hope for the future? What truths from the Bible do I continually resist? What are the clear patterns of disobedience in my life?
* Idols tend to hide deep in our hearts. It is root sin. It is our motivations.
* Our motivations are the root sin. People can have different motivations for doing what they do.
* Four motivations in people (Alfred Adler): power, comfort, approval, or control
*Repentance is seeing your sin, owning your sin, turning from sin. It shows us the Root of our sin. You find that I am a bigger sinner than I thought.
* Faith is that Jesus lived for me, died for me, God sees me in Jesus, and Jesus lives in me. You find that He is a bigger Savior than I thought.
* God forgive us for inviting people to a gospel that we are not really living.

I've got a confession...

There are times in my life that I have neglected studying the Bible when I have been caught up in reading other books. It's really ridiculous when I think about it.

In case you haven't noticed, I've read a decent number of books so far this year. Actually, I think I'm on book number 15 so far (which is a complete shocker for those that knew me before I moved to to South Carolina. Heck...I didn't read a book college). The temptation for me is to read three or four books at once, and skip out on studying the Bible. Don't get me wrong, the books that I read have a lot of Scripture in it, but I've learned that I can't stay connected to God without studying the Bible.

What is getting in the way with your time with God? It may be good "Christian" activities or things. Don't let those things get in the way with your time with God. Experience Him first hand.

Going to the beat of your own drummer...

I have had something on my mind lately and I just can't shake it. Why is it that some "leaders" in churches are unreceptive to critique and/or confrontation?

I've noticed that I have, at times, been labeled as "marching to the beat of my own drummer." It's really odd to me. Throughout the years, I have tried to be completely up front and honest about how I feel about various issues within the church and have offered my opinion of things often. If I have an issue with something that someone has said or done, I go straight to them (an amazing idea, I think...not that I came up with it...ehmmm, Matthew 18).

The problem is, oftentimes "leaders" aren't receptive to hearing other ideas or being confronted about things that they have done. In one of my previous churches, I was told I had an "authority issue," despite following everything they asked me to do. In another, point blank...I was forced to resign because I warned our "leader" of issues that I heard staff rambling about.

So what's a man to do? I think it's time for leaders to put their pride to the side and embrace critique and confrontation. When someone confronts me, it often tells me a few things:

1) They care about me. If they didn't care about me, they would go to others before coming to me. They would talk about me behind my back. I have had a couple of cases that students came to me with their concerns over some small things. It was amazing! I knew they actually cared about me. It wasn't an authority issue...it was an act from the heart.

2) I have to always evaluate what I do. There is ALWAYS room for improvement. Some of the best ideas will come from those around you.

3) I have tons of room to grow. I don't have all of the best ideas and many of those around me know a lot more about some things than I do.

4) They are handling it biblically. There's some great guidelines in Scripture. Maybe we should spend some time living it.

If you don't have anyone around you sharpening you, your setting yourself up for failure. If you can't listen to other's critique, perhaps you're already failing. Thoughts?

UPDATE: Wow...amazing blog about critiquing church environments by Tony Morgan that you can find here. I gotta admit...I critique like crazy in a church environment.