Brentview Church

What would it take to convince you that your older brother was God? James was one of Jesus' brothers and he ended up convinced his brother was also worth following. For the next eight weeks we are going to dive into a letter James wrote to encourage the early church. The church was facing hard times; today we will look into some of the ways God develops our character. 

What would it take to convince you that your older brother was God? James was one of Jesus' brothers and he ended up convinced his brother was also worth following. For the next eight weeks we are going to dive into a letter James wrote to encourage the early church. The church was facing hard times; today we will look into some of the ways God develops our character. 

What would it take to convince you that your older brother was God? James was one of Jesus' brothers and he ended up convinced his brother was also worth following. For the next eight weeks we are going to dive into a letter James wrote to encourage the early church. The church was facing hard times; today we will look into some of the ways God develops our character. 

What would it take to convince you that your older brother was God? James was one of Jesus' brothers and he ended up convinced his brother was also worth following. For the next eight weeks we are going to dive into a letter James wrote to encourage the early church. The church was facing hard times; today we will look into some of the ways God develops our character. 

What would it take to convince you that your older brother was God? James was one of Jesus' brothers and he ended up convinced his brother was also worth following. For the next eight weeks we are going to dive into a letter James wrote to encourage the early church. The church was facing hard times; today we will look into some of the ways God develops our character. 

What would it take to convince you that your older brother was God? James was one of Jesus' brothers and he ended up convinced his brother was also worth following. For the next eight weeks we are going to dive into a letter James wrote to encourage the early church. The church was facing hard times; today we will look into some of the ways God develops our character. 

What would it take to convince you that your older brother was God? James was one of Jesus' brothers and he ended up convinced his brother was also worth following. For the next eight weeks we are going to dive into a letter James wrote to encourage the early church. The church was facing hard times; today we will look into some of the ways God develops our character. 

Without a doubt, Jesus was criticized by the religious elites of his day. There's a story of a group of pharisees claiming that Jesus did his miracles empowered by the devil. In that instance, and in many other moments of criticism, Jesus responded with a deep sense of his identity and vocation—which invite us to reform our expectations of God's will for the world. So, in this five-week series we...

Without a doubt, Jesus was criticized by the religious elites of his day. There's a story of a group of pharisees claiming that Jesus did his miracles empowered by the devil. In that instance, and in many other moments of criticism, Jesus responded with a deep sense of his identity and vocation—which invite us to reform our expectations of God's will for the world. So, in this five-week series we...

Without a doubt, Jesus was criticized by the religious elites of his day. There's a story of a group of pharisees claiming that Jesus did his miracles empowered by the devil. In that instance, and in many other moments of criticism, Jesus responded with a deep sense of his identity and vocation—which invite us to reform our expectations of God's will for the world. So, in this five-week series we...

Without a doubt, Jesus was criticized by the religious elites of his day. There's a story of a group of pharisees claiming that Jesus did his miracles empowered by the devil. In that instance, and in many other moments of criticism, Jesus responded with a deep sense of his identity and vocation—which invite us to reform our expectations of God's will for the world. So, in this five-week series we...

Without a doubt, Jesus was criticized by the religious elites of his day. There's a story of a group of pharisees claiming that Jesus did his miracles empowered by the devil. In that instance, and in many other moments of criticism, Jesus responded with a deep sense of his identity and vocation—which invite us to reform our expectations of God's will for the world. So, in this five-week series we...

Conflict follows relationships. Relationships are "Messy." No matter what we do, we will find ourselves in challenging conversations and with people that push our buttons. As followers of Jesus, how might we engage with a posture of openness and grace? What does Jesus show us about speaking the truth in love? What do we do when we've broken relationships and desire reconciliation? This series expl...

Conflict follows relationships. Relationships are "Messy." No matter what we do, we will find ourselves in challenging conversations and with people that push our buttons. As followers of Jesus, how might we engage with a posture of openness and grace? What does Jesus show us about speaking the truth in love? What do we do when we've broken relationships and desire reconciliation? This series expl...

Conflict follows relationships. Relationships are "Messy." No matter what we do, we will find ourselves in challenging conversations and with people that push our buttons. As followers of Jesus, how might we engage with a posture of openness and grace? What does Jesus show us about speaking the truth in love? What do we do when we've broken relationships and desire reconciliation? This series expl...

Conflict follows relationships. Relationships are "Messy." No matter what we do, we will find ourselves in challenging conversations and with people that push our buttons. As followers of Jesus, how might we engage with a posture of openness and grace? What does Jesus show us about speaking the truth in love? What do we do when we've broken relationships and desire reconciliation? This series expl...

Conflict follows relationships. Relationships are "Messy." No matter what we do, we will find ourselves in challenging conversations and with people that push our buttons. As followers of Jesus, how might we engage with a posture of openness and grace? What does Jesus show us about speaking the truth in love? What do we do when we've broken relationships and desire reconciliation? This series expl...

Conflict follows relationships. Relationships are "Messy." No matter what we do, we will find ourselves in challenging conversations and with people that push our buttons. As followers of Jesus, how might we engage with a posture of openness and grace? What does Jesus show us about speaking the truth in love? What do we do when we've broken relationships and desire reconciliation? This series expl...

Jesus's pain was redeemed in resurrection. This is the ultimate fulfillment of hope for all who follow him. Resurrection for us, on that final day, will be the moment we become fully human forever, just like Jesus. The ultimate redemption of our pain is coming, and in many ways, because Jesus stepped out of a tomb that first Easter morning, our pain is redeemable even now. (John 20).

Jesus, after accepting his "cup," willingly goes to the cross and cries out to God the Father, "…why have you forsaken me?" Has God abandoned Jesus in his hour of greatest need? Perhaps. Or, maybe God the Father was there even though it didn't feel like it. (Mark 15; Psalm 22)

At the end of his earthly ministry, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Take this cup of suffering away from me" (Mark 14:36). "Cup" refers to the suffering he was about to endure. All of us have, or will have, cups to bear. In fact, anytime we step into relationships, we risk bearing a cup of pain. Love not only risks pain but also leads to it. (Mark 14).

Even if we have a picture of God in our minds, an intellectual category for how we think and talk about God, getting that to saturate the inmost pain points of our souls is often challenging. I invite you to think about how, when you authentically sit with your hurts, your experienced narrative of God differs from the picture we have of Jesus weeping.(Luke 19:41-44)

Fear is natural and is nothing to be ashamed of. Neither should it be a limitation to becoming more like Jesus. Fear, a major contributor to pain for many, doesn't need to have such a power over us that we never take risks to step into our God-given potential. We become human like Jesus when we take the risk of radical trust and obedience, even when it disrupts our sense of equilibrium. (Mark 6 [J...

Before anything else, Jesus desires to reshape the interior of our lives. We might call this virtue or character formation, but ultimately it involves getting to know Jesus personally so that responding to situations as he would becomes second nature. One example of this shows up in Matthew 5. Jesus teaches us to "love your enemies." Love is both an inward disposition, one that we must have formed...

Why does God allow pain in our world? The story we tell about God and suffering matters. However, what is more important than "why" is "what" we do with our pain. To step into our pain differently, we can rest in the fact that above anything else, we are beloved by God. We are worthy of that love, just like Jesus at his baptism. He then stepped into the desert, a place of scarcity, but feasted on...