Radical Together by David Platt

-
David Platt's book Radical truly got me to thinking about what church was supposed to look like. This book has propelled me into even deeper thinking. It seems that we have been duped into theatrical worship and none of us are authentically living out the gospel. What if we all lived out the religion that God accepts?
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
-James 1:27
When we left our church last year, I asked my husband to not make me go back into that type of environment again. Everything seemed manufactured and we were all emotionally manipulated. As we are planting a church, reading this and being challenged by the words of Jesus, I want to know what God desires. He wants something all together different. According to His word, God wants us to spend our resources of care of others and taking the gospel to the nations. How can we do that if our money is tied up in multimillion dollar sanctuaries that are form fitted to make us comfortable?
Here is an excerpt about seeker churches that spoke to me:
"But let me remind you of a startling reality that the Bible makes clear: "There is no one who seeks God." So if the church is sensitive to seekers, and if no one is seeking God, then that means the church is sensitive to no one. . . Jesus tells us that the Father is the one seeking worshippers for His praise. He is the one doing the seeking."
Have we confused ourselves with God?

I was amazed by how his congregation cut their budgets and decided against greater facilities that they had the money to build in order to share the gospel with the nations. What will we do? 
I highly recommend this book. It was graciously given for review by Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

David Crowder's House Restoration

-
Image
A recent edition of Waco Today featured David Crowder's six year renovation project(we had to go check it out). I said a quiet prayer that God would let our house be completed before six years was up for us and then I dove in to the details. David and his wife bought the home of the man who invented Dr. Pepper. It is encouraging to see something that took so much effort and energy come to completion. May we soon see the same thing. You can read the story of the Crowder renovation here .
Read more

A Writer's Callous

-
Image
Alright, baby photo below. Quit emailing me! ;-) I remember having a writer's callous when I was five years old. In my adolescence I hated it. Now, I find it fascinating. Almost as long as I have been alive I have borne a mark that declares I am passionate about something in such a way that it bores into my skin. I have been blessed with wonderful Apple products to use and I still prefer writing things out. I heard Michelle Pfeiffer say David Kelley writes out all of his award winning shows on yellow legal pad. I like that. I prefer a journal and a real wood pencil (the kind that are stained, not the yellow ones.) There's something romantic about it to me. Writing is a choice medium in my relationship with God . I love to prayer journal. I pour out thanks for every minute that I get to spend doing it. In last weeks post I told you that God broke my Mac so I would spend some time alone with Him (then I can have it back in January). Shortly thereafter the enemy came in tel...
Read more

Miscarriage | Infertility | Hope

-
Image
I encountered Jesus as a young child in a church pew in the balcony of an old country church. Through a lifetime of trial, I knew he was there. I did not always know or understand what he wanted of me, but I knew I was wanted. We could go through all of the pain and abuse of my life and unpack each tiny detail, but that is not what this is really about. I love what Frederick Buechner said, “Pain is not the biggest thing that has ever happened to you.” That is true. I have beheld far greater glory. As I clung to his word through all of this, I knew he was there.   My story about trying begins long before I began trying to have children. I tell you this because almost half of the population has been abused in some way. The attack on my uterus began when I was four-years-old. I spent most of my life believing that I was broken and I was crippled by shame. I carried that shame into every relationship I had. As I encountered people in the church, I never felt safe enough to ask for...
Read more