The Caffeinated Christian with Brian Branam

How do you react when you get angry? Are you a gunslinger, quick on the draw, firing accusations at another person? Or are you more like the porcupine, irritable and unapproachable? Maybe you're more of the passive-aggressive type like the iceberg. When you get angry, you may not say anything, […] The post What's Your Angry Face? appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

When you remove the lens of personal opinion or political party, you realize that what we saw yesterday as people stormed Capitol Hill was nothing new. Whether it is right or left, black or white, Republican or Democrat, what we saw was what we have seen since the early summer. […] The post A Biblical Perspective on the Storming of Our Capitol appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Why is the evil of persecution a part of the Christian experience? What is working in the hearts of Christ-followers that helps them hold faithful? Why is Christian persecution an epic Satanic fail? In 2015 I was in Egypt and heard the testimony of the persecuted church there. What was […] The post Why the Persecution of Christians is an Epic Satanic Fail (audio podcast) appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

We make a mistake with the Book of Revelation. We want to know what it means without responding to what it says. Among the places we make this mistake is in our reading of the tribulation period. What is the tribulation? Who is in it? Is it a second chance […] The post The Tribulation of 2020 appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Walking with God requires more than lip service, it requires life change.  If we walk with God, there will be a sense of moral urgency about us.   My biggest fear as a pastor is that people enjoy my sermons, but never change.  If you read this book and love […] The post Episode 23 – Lip Service is Not Life Change appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

When we move wonderful things into the place of priority thinking they will add to our life.  In the end, we find instead that they are parasites. The first thing determines everything. If the first thing is the wrong thing, it will suck the life out of you. If the […] The post Episode 22 – The Right Thing and the Wrong Thing appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Life demands attention.  I am sure, like everyone else, you are an extremely busy person.  But do you realize that according to Scripture, God has ultimately called you to only one thing?  The one thing God requires of you is to walk in a way that pleases Him.  Paul says […] The post Episode 21 – The First Thing Determines Everything appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not simply a plan that shows people how to go to Heaven; it is a demonstration of Lordship. When Jesus rose from the dead, He was certainly Savior, but He was also confirmed as Lord of all. If you have asked […] The post Episode 20 – A Lens To Interpret the Story of Your Stuff appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

What are the differences between consumers and stewards? It's all in how you view your stuff. In this episode we look at two very different approaches to life management. One will help you have more while the other you will want more but have nothing left. Are you a steward […] The post Episode 19 – Consumers and Stewards appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

We stated that God created a world in which there would be enough resources for everyone to experience provision and abundance.  Yet, there is a contradiction in our theology and our experience at this point.  If there is plenty of stuff, why doesn't everyone have enough?   New episodes of […] The post Episode 18 – Why You May Not Have Enough appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

When I was younger, I did a fair amount of hiking and camping.  The destination determined what we took.  If we were going to camp for several days in one place, what we packed looked very different than what we would take if we were going to hike overnight.  The […] The post Episode 17 – The Story of Your Stuff appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

There is so much going on in the world that I don't want to know.  I like to sleep.  While I sleep peacefully, I wonder how great is God's grace as our shield?  How often does He protect me, and I am unaware?  Psalm 18:2 reminds me that He is […] The post Episode 16 – God is Involved. Trust His Power. appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Even though we live in a cruel and evil world in which it is easy to take missteps and make mistakes, God's Word remains a sufficient guide, a source of instruction to establish our steps.  God's Word prepares us and supports us for life in a world antagonistic to faith. […] The post Episode 15 – God is Instructive, Questions to Ask to Avoid Mistakes appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

You make a critical mistake if you believe that God is not interested in the details of your life.  You may feel that God is uninterested because you are unimportant.  You may not be one of the 40 most influential people under 40 in your city.  You may not be […] The post Episode 14 – God is Interested, Avoiding the Great American Freakout appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

What if you could know the next step?  What if you could move through life less reactionary and more strategic?  What if life was less of a guess and more of a calculation?  Knowing the next step with certainty will help you make decisions that will position you for maximum […] The post Episode 13 – A Minor Misstep, A Major Mistake appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

The Psalmist said that when he reversed his focus and began to live life in God's presence, he found “at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  When we put the objects of our earthly affections to this final test, do they last?  No. They don't. When we bank lasting joy […] The post Episode 12 – Is It Lasting? appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

For some reason we believe God is a “fun-sucker.”  We think that if we do life His way that we will never be satisfied. We believe God is a mostly stoic, otherwise temperamental, unpredictable, ruler of the universe who requires us to be miserable if we are to have any […] The post Episode 11 – Will It Satisfy? appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Social media calls them “trends.”  Sociologists call them “memes.”  “Memes” are the interesting mannerisms, phrases, and fashions that seem for a time to become cultural DNA.  You've probably called them “fads.”  No one quite knows how or why, but all of the sudden everybody's got one or everybody's doing it. […] The post Episode 10 – Is It Trending? How to Know What's Next appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Selfies are shots of our face at arm's length. As cultural a phenomenon as selfies have become, what they really are is our unfulfilled, frustrating, feeble attempt at something we cannot attain; the perfect version of self. But the Bible invites us to walk before the face of God. When […] The post Episode 9 – Selfies appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

How do we reconcile the times when we follow the Lord and it is not an easy path? People who establish the right path and walk with God are able to see the ultimate and realize that the immediate is not permanent. Take the long view. Look down the path […] The post Episode 8 – Straight Paths appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Each of us has stories of broken trust. We build hard places in our heart to protect us from the next betrayal. Yet God calls for us to trust Him; with ALL of our heart. That's hard to do, but it's necessary. The alternative is to rely on your own […] The post Episode 7 – Establishing Right Paths appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

It's hard to admit when you're wrong. Even more difficult is to admit that you are the problem. Are you on the right path? Every decision brings with it signs that let you know whether or not you are on the right path. In this episode of A Walk Thru […] The post Episode 6 – Are You On The Right Path? appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Desire does not determine the destination. Direction determines destination. A lot of us don't know where we are going, but we are on our way! This week in A Walk Thru The Summer we begin a conversation about paths. God has a great desire for His people. He wants to […] The post Episode 5 – Desires and Destination appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

The pace of your presence is the effort it takes for you to be “present” in the moment. We get a lot of information with our smartphones, but all of the notification comes at the cost of our attention. God didn't design us to live through a screen. Our presence […] The post Episode 4 – The Pace of Your Presence appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

In this episode of A Walk Thru The Summer we learn a lesson from the Creator. God could have said, “Let there be a universe” and there would have immediately been a fully furnished universe for you and I to enjoy. But instead, God took 6 days to create the […] The post Episode 3 – The Pace of My Day and My Limitations appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

In this episode, we look at another story in which Jesus raises the dead, which is also yet another story in which The Almighty doesn't move as fast as we want him to go. Why does God move so slow? We have less problem with what Jesus says as we […] The post Episode 2 – Lessons on the Way To Your Miracle appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

If you've followed Jesus for any length of time then you've had that experience where it seems like you are so desperate for Him to do something, but He does nothing. You need The Master to move, but He just stops. In this episode of A Walk Thru The Summer […] The post Episode 1 – A Desperate Dad appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

There's something about turning 40 that makes you reassess your goals. 40 is a midpoint at which you realize that there may be more life behind you than ahead. For me, 40 brought about a lot of frustration. It was out of this frustration that my first book, #TheWalk, was […] The post The Frustration of 40 appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

Beginning June 1 I'll take you on a personal, devotional journey through my book #TheWalk. We are doing life at smartphone speed. Because of GPS we can arrive at a destination and have no idea of how we got there. The writer's of Scripture call for us to live at […] The post A Walk Thru the Summer Promo 1 appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

For Sermon of the Week, I am going to post one that is barely a day old. Yesterday I shared a message with Liberty entitled The Lord is My Banner. Life is full of battles. Wouldn't it be nice to get a win? If you have any ambition at all, […] The post The Lord is My Banner appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

On Thursday night's episode of Biblical Conversations on Culture we began discussing mental illness. From gun control, to acts of violence, to Joy Behar's comments about VP Mike Pence on The View the words “mental illness” are becoming mainstream. This week's sermon of the week, Unfailing Wisdom, is about coming out […] The post Sermon of the Week: Coming Out of Crazy appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

When people begin to speak in tongues in a worship service is it chaotic or charismatic? This message was brought in a PM service at Liberty in 2016. By examining the scriptural context of tongues and charismatic gifts in the Bible we find that passages used to advocate charismatic gifts […] The post Sermon of the Week: Tongues, Charismatic or Chaotic? appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

The choice for this edition of Sermon of the Week is strategic. It was originally shared at Liberty Baptist Church in March of 2012, but I think it is particularly pertinent as we continue to grieve over the tragic massacre of students in Parkland, Florida last week. We not only […] The post Sermon of the Week: Raising Cain appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.

It is the week of love! To celebrate, I've asked my wife, Shannon, to pick out her favorite content for posting this week. Shannon's choice for Sermon of the Week is Still Together from the Still His/Still Hers series, originally shared at Liberty in 2015. What does it take to […] The post Still Together (Sermon of the Week) appeared first on The Caffeinated Christian.