Today I had great fun, preaching from Nehemiah 2 v 1-10 and I didn’t even set the passage! Most of you know I’ve been brought back to this book, time-after-time….. I took a different tack to the passage, and resisted checking over previous preaches from this passage!
I contend that it’s often the hardest thing to turn intention into action! Yetwithal making it happen is vital! My original thought is this:- Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace!
1. Be patient; Passionately pray and responsibly serve. v.1b
2. Be bold; Let your fears feed your faith! v. 2-3
3. Be dependent. v. 4
4. Be prepared. v. 5-8a
5. Be expectant. v. 8b
“I would rather walk in the dark with God than go alone in the light. I would rather walk with Him by faith than walk alone by sight.” Mary Gardner Brainard
action, change, faith, God, intention, light, Nehemiah, preaching, quote, steps, trust
We have a capacity to complicate Christianity. Jesus simplified it with one commandment: Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Primal Mark Batterson explores the four elements of Great Commandment Christianity: compassion, wonder, curiosity and power. Along the way, he calls Christians to be a part of God’s reformation, starting in their own lives.
“Is there a place in your past where you met God and God met you?” asks Batterson. “A place where your heart broke for the things that break the heart of God? In that moment, God birthed something supernatural in your spirit. You knew you’d never be the same again. My prayer is that this book would take you back to that burning bush—and reignite a primal faith.”
Batterson says that that moment may have been during a sermon, on a mission trip or at an altar, but regardless of the time or place, a return to a primal faith is essential to all believers. According to Batterson that primal faith will lead Christians to a new reformation, an overhaul of the way they love God. “Reformations are born out of primal truths rediscovered, reimagined and radically reapplied to our lives,” he says. And the importance of rediscovering the need to love God with all that we are can’t be measured. Primal will help readers live in light of what matters most and discover what it means to love God, becoming great at the Great Commandment.
Admittedly, I hoped for more substance based on the brilliance of Batterson, great depth and longevity in the journey to loving and honouring the very heart of God. It’s a helpful catalyst to loving God and renewing our roots. I did long for greater impact. The anticipation exceeded the reality!
book, faith, great commandment, Mark Batterson, new, Primal, reformation, reivew
‘What does God expect of us?’ remains one of the best questions ever…..
In “The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Sterns there is one part personal testimony, one stories from around the world and one part call to action. The book intertwines Richard’s personal story and calling from God with stories of people that have either been helped by or have helped others through World Vision’s contribution to global transformation. This book delivers an engaging and pacey story while giving you plenty to think about. Richard asks you some great questions like, “What was Jesus’ mission?” and “What are we here for?” The book also is interlaced with a lot of great quotes. My favorite of which is by William Sloane which says,
“I love the recklessness of faith. First you leap, and then you grow wings.”
I really enjoyed this book a great deal and intend to read it again. I found this book to be everything that I really like in a book. I enjoy books that stretch your thinking and propose tough questions for you to think about. This book had me really asking what my purpose in life is, as well as, gave me a new perspective on how I express life and faith!
I can honestly say after reading this book I am a changed person and I don’t think you can read it without changing yours as well. I have really started to look at my faith differently, which has caused me to “un-compartmentalize” it. I have a new perspective as I wake each morning to begin my day and realize just how privileged, responsible and blessed I am. Let me warn you, The Hole in Our Gospel is a book that once you read it, you simply cannot go back to the way you were before. This book made me laugh, it made me cry and it caused me to take action.
action, books, faith, gaps, gospel, Questions, review, Richard Sterns, story, World Visions
How is your faith different to what it was five years ago?
difference, faith, now, question, quizzing, time
“There’s nothing worse than catatonic Christians standing still in a world of falling people.”
In life with God, there are at least three directions to it all….. There’s the upward component–a personal relationship with God.
That God would die so we can live, means that it should be impossible to understand this without feeling it’s truth. The Christian faith cannot be sectioned out as only academic. It must breath; it must live. Evangelicalism prizes this. It’s about honouring what the Puritans used to call “vital religion.” Soul-beats. a pursuit-of-Jesus: living-faith.
There’s also the inward component of Christianity–classically called spiritual disciplines. Writers like Richard Foster, Eugene Peterson, and Henri Nouwen have consistently expressed the importance of living a spiritually disciplined life. St John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and others show us how to develop our interior life. Jesus spent nights alone in prayer with his Father, and the Holy Spirits urges all believers that intimacy with God must be nourished and maintained. The patient groove of daily disciplines help us live intentional lives. They refine us and reform us. They create within us a hunger that can be satisfied only by God.
And there’s also an outward component to Christianity. Being Christ to the world. Living in sacred community and reaching out to others.
Catatonic Christianity is when Christians see a need and do not respond. It’s a problem that’s too present! Christ’s command remains–to be the light of God in a dark and dying world, and it’s catatonic when we don’t!
Each one of the three components of the Christian faith–the upward, inward, and outward–feeds off and strengthens the other. They interact and affect the other. And together they contribute to a Christianity that is as relevant as it is real and rooted.
Perhaps it’s like David said: lets ‘not give to God that which costs us nothing.’ 2 Samuel 24v24
Costly,…. of consequence: never catatonic!
catatonic, faith, inward, living, outward, upward
Don’t let the idea of God remain just an idea.
He calls us into a passionate life of faith, hope and love.
Here,..
now,..
today…
faith, hope, life, love, passionate
