Weekly Wrap (30/06)

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

Like being comfortable? Francis Chan talks about why we as Christians should reject comfort.

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Why You Need A Half-Year Resolution - "Life gets in the way of our good intentions and we sometimes abandon them all too quickly." Time to make some changes in your life? A good article courtesy of Relevant Magazine.

Listening To Young Atheists - "Church became all about ceremony, handholding, and kumbaya," Phil said with a look of disgust. "I missed my old youth pastor. He actually knew the Bible."" A very challenging and thought-provoking article from Fixed Point on a new breed of young atheists - ex-churchgoing, young group attending, God serving atheists.

Christ-Centred Hermeneutics and Typology - "Daniel Block suggested that we need to be less Christocentric and more Christotelic in our Old Testament interpretation. By this he means that we need to shift our emphasis from seeking Christ in the Old Testament and more towards seeing Christ as the end, as the destination, as the climax of the Old Testament, which each Old Testament text plays a preparatory part in." Like thinking deeply about Theology? Then you will appreciate this great post from Ed Stetzer.

Why I Pray Publicly For Other Churches - "Every Sunday morning, I lead the congregation of Third Avenue Baptist Church in a "pastoral prayer."... The part of the prayer that elicits the most comment, however—both positive and out of sheer confusion—is when I pray for another evangelical church or two meeting in the city of Louisville." A really timely article from the Gospel Coalition discussing a little known (and likely practiced!) practice: praying for God's broader church, not just your own.

Lay Aside The Weight of Self-Preoccupation - "Want to refresh your soul? Want to run with more endurance today? Cease to be the focus of your attention." Yet another wonderful and encouraging article from Desiring God.
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Thought for the day...

"We've substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, thats why many people are devoted to causes & few are devoted to Jesus."
— Oswald Chambers

Book Review: Forgotten God by Francis Chan

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

           

As I indicated when I started this blog, one of my priorities would be to provide book reviews on interesting Christian books that I come across from time to time. So here it is: my very first book review on Alive in Christ!

Francis Chan's Forgotten God is a great book - let me just start by saying that. Why the title Forgotten God you might be thinking? Francis Chan outlines his justification for his provocative title from his introductory passages, suggesting that the Holy Spirit is:

"...tragically neglected and, for all practical purposes, forgotten. While no evangelical would deny His existence, I'm willing to bet there are millions of churchgoers across America who cannot confidently say they have experienced His presence or action in their lives over the past year. And many of them do not believe they can."

Francis Chan poses this challenging thought:

"...what if you grew up on a desert island with nothing but the Bible to read? Imagine being rescued after twenty years and then attending a typical evangelical church. Chances are you'd be shocked... Having read the Scriptures outsides the context of contemporary church culture, you would be convinced that the Holy Spirit is as essential to a believer's existence as air is to staying alive."

He continues with this statement:

"There is a big gap between what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit and how most believers and churches operate today. In many modern churches, you would be stunned by the apparent absence of the Spirit in any manifest way."

Challenging thoughts indeed! Through his book, Francis Chan provides a basic overview of the Holy Spirit and provides some fantastic, thought provoking statements - such as the ones above - that could be pondered for some time after the reader has finished the book. This is what Forgotten God does well. Forgotten God is not a deep, theological book, written to provide definitive answers on all aspects of theology about the Holy Spirit. Rather, Francis Chan's Forgotten God provides an endless array of statements, illustrations and stories which challenge and unsettle the reader, causing the reader to reassess the degree to which the Holy Spirit has influence and is evident in their own life.

Tim Challies in his book review of Forgotten God makes the following statement in concluding his review:

"...for those who have thought little about the person and role of the Holy Spirit, Forgotten God may be just the thing to get them thinking. For those who have not thought about the Spirit for a long time, this may serve as a good wake-up call. It is far from a full-orbed or exhaustive treatment, but neither is that its purpose. Chan sets out to get the reader thinking “that by keeping in step with the Spirit, we might regularly fellowship over what He’s doing rather than what He did months or years ago.” It’s about living a life dependent on and surrendered to the Spirit, about seeking how we can live faithfully here and now. And this he accomplishes well."

I think Tim sums it up well. Francis Chan's Forgotten God is a great read that exhorts the reader to live a life of reliance on - and surrender to - the Holy Spirit. Any book that encourages the reader to do that can only be a good thing in my opinion.

Weekly Wrap (17/03)

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

Francis Chan - a Pastor and well-known Christian Author - talks about the importance of remaining courageous in walking as a Christian in the world today. A great three minute video to check out!

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The Only Foundation For Youth Ministry - "I want students to be won to Jesus, not jokes and games. I must trust in the Spirit, not my amazing programs, to work in my midst." Josh Cousineau writes a great piece for the Gospel Coalition on developing a biblical foundation for Youth Ministry focussed on Jesus.

The Next Bible - "Scripture? There’s an app for that." Joshua Dubois - President Obama's former faith advisor - writes on the increasing market for Bible Applications on technology devices. Well worth a read.

Don't Just Pray - Become a Praying Church - Brady Boyd from Churchleaders.com provides 5 tips to make your church a praying church.

A-La-Carte - Tim Challies always comes up with some great articles from the blogosphere. This one has many interesting articles that are well worth looking at.

Clarifying My Words About Roman Catholic “Heresy” - John Piper's clarification around his assertion that the Catholic Church is promoting heresy through their teaching. It's a good read.
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Thought for the day...

"A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green."

— Francis Bacon