Communicating for Change…not just for sermons…

Thank you christianaudio.com for the opportunity to review this work, and as always for investing in my spiritual walk.

Communicating for a Change, by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones, Colorado Springs:
Multnomah, 2013. AudioBook narrated by Lloyd James.

When you communicate is it for change or wasting oxygen?  If you could only have one point and confine it to one point could you do it?  What if everything you have been taught about putting together a sermon (discipleship, teaching, public speaking, or just dialoguing with someone) was wrong?  This 2010 book finally made it to audio and bring to life story and application in two parts.  First, a pastor wants to improve his Sunday delivery and he meets a trucker that will change his life.  Second, Andy and Lane outline the principles in application for those who need lists.

I found this audio interesting in that I am not preaching every Sunday, but yet I am dialoging with folks all the time and this really challenged my thinking in this area.  It challenged my desire to fire hose people and instead focus on one point.  Whether it is in engaging in good questions or communicating for change.  This audio enlightened me in thinking that just because I wasn’t preaching, I could benefit from a critique of my communication methods.  I don’t know if I am asked to preach again, if I would put the outline together like this, but it would definitely influence a one point fallen-condition-focus in my next one.  

I felt like for the first part of the book reading the One-Minute Manager, which caused me to rewind and listen multiple times, however I picked up more in the second half of the audiobook as it focused on application. 

The outline of the method being described is:  Determine your goal; pick a point; create a map; internalize the message; engage your audience; find your voice; start all over (Me, We, God, You, We).  I would also add that the next step…implication is going to take some mediation, thinking and asking good questions for the dynamics I have in my life.  For 196-pages of the book, Lloyd James did an excellent narration which was presented in a cohesive and yet appealing manner.  This book although mentioned scripture and had some sprinkled through it was not an exegesis.  The most gracious comment I could share about the work would be that implications were made that pointed to Christ sharing one-point versus bulleted-sermons and handouts.  Would I recommend this book to others?  Maybe.  It is not a MacArthur or Jay Adams work on preaching with a purpose, but it does give novices something to think through before ‘studying’ homiletics. 

Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication By Andy Stanley & Lane Jones / Multnomah Publishers, Inc. Speakers and preachers—follow this instructive parable to keep your message alive and your audience alert! By knowing your destination before you leave (identifying the major premise you want to communicate), using your turn signals (transition ahead!), and employing five other practical points, you’ll be on the road to success—and drive your message home! 176 pages, hardcover from Multnomah.

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"One Bit of Scripture…"

As I get older, more and more I am convinced the importance of discipleship evangelism is for our generation and the generations to come.  Part of that has definitely come from dialoguing with them.  It is through these continuing conversations that I have learned that not everyone likes or can learn when drinking from a fire hose.  I came across this quote some time ago and it is part of the ‘derek-ism’ as a friend of mine would say, that permeate throughout these conversations.  I share it now.

A Two-bit Answer to the Million Dollar Question

This article will consider one small part of the answer. It is an important part, however. Learning this has made a huge impact on how I live and counsel. In a nutshell, connect one bit of Scripture to one bit of life. In other words, always ask two questions of yourself and others: What is your current struggle? What about God in Christ connects to this?

What is your struggle? You might be facing sufferings and troubles of various kinds (James 1:2). You might be sinning—doing and thinking various troublesome things (James 3:16). Usually it’s a tangle of both. God talks exactly about these things. How does the one Savior enter these struggles? What does He say? How does He help?

What will He change?
Perhaps you’ve seen the ecology-minded bumper sticker that says, “Think globally. Act locally.” Keep the big picture in view, then do something constructive. The same principle operates in counseling ministry. Keep the big picture in view, then act on some detail. Get the whole Story on God. Get the whole story on this person. Know the themes both in Scripture and in person. Then apply one relevant thing from our Redeemer to one significant scene in this person’s story. Bring one bit of Bible to one bit of life. You can’t say it all at once.

Charles Spurgeon put the principle in his inimitable way,

  One bit of Bible prayed over, and bedewed with the Spirit, and made alive, though it be only a short sentence of six words, will profit you more than a hundred chapters without the Spirit.1

One bit of Bible, bedewed with the Spirit, comes to life in one bit of life! You can’t deal with it all at once. Scripture never does. Ministry, like life, goes one step at a time.
Apply this first and foremost to your own life. The best advice I ever got on preaching was this: “Live your message for a week, a month, a lifetime. Then aim low. You’re sure to hit something.” The same thing applies to would-be counselors. What is your current struggle? How does God in Christ connect to you in this? You can give away what you are being given. What you give from out of your own life will be life-giving to others. When you are learning kindness from your Savior you will be able to teach unkind people. When you are learning to endure suffering well, you will be able to reach sufferers. It is the same with any other radiancy of the Spirit: clarity, courage, humility, patience, joy, wisdom, gratitude, mercy, teachability, generosity, honesty. If you are unhesitatingly honest, you can help dishonest people.

Richard Baxter graphically named the alternative: “I confess I must speak it by lamentable experience, that I publish to my flock the distempers of my own soul. When I let my heart go cold, my preaching is cold; and when it is confused, my preaching is confused.”2 As with preaching, so with counseling. In fact, the impact for good or ill occurs more instantaneously in counseling. People come vulnerable, with current struggles laid openly on the table. You cannot conceal your response. You don’t have the luxury of planning even the next sentence to come out of your mouth. You immediately publish the distempers or radiancies of your soul. You publish by the questions you ask (or don’t ask), by how you listen (or don’t really want to listen), by the interpretations you offer (or don’t even think to offer), by the advice you give (or can’t give), by the attitude you take towards people, towards problems, towards people with problems.

Let me make the case that one timely passage does three essential things. First, it orients this person to the moral landscape within which he lives, moves, and has his being: “The unfolding of Your words gives light” (Ps. 119:132). If someone tends to get lost in dark woods, the right road lost, then a good map and the light of dawn are extremely helpful! They don’t actually get you anywhere, but they orient you. You see where you’ve gotten and where you need to get. It must be simple and concrete—something true, riveted to real life. Theological generalities, abstractions and intricacies don’t do the job. General truths about yourself—your tendencies, typical patterns, themes that replay in your personal history—don’t change you. You must be able to identify where your particular current struggle lies, what it means, what exactly is at stake, where to go. Where is the firefight between good and evil? Today, what is your particular battlefield? You must be able to trace the difference between truth and lies, clarity and confusion, hope and illusion, right and wrongs, insight and self-deception, true need and wild desires, love and self-serving, living faith and functional godlessness. Where do you need God’s redemption and help? When you are disoriented in your current struggle, you don’t even know your choices. You can’t see the choice points. You can’t choose. When your way is deep darkness, you don’t know what makes you stumble. The right bit of Scripture—six words, two verses, one story—reorients you.

Second, a timely passage brings Christ’s grace and truth to this person. Something that God is, says, and does must invade your life struggles, beckon you, teach you, master you. What about God in Christ do you need in your current struggle? The map-giver personally guides through dark woods. You need help, and the LORD is a very present help in trouble. You can’t make it without grace to help in your time of need. The people you counsel can’t make it without help coming from the LORD who made heaven and earth. The first beatitude—essential poverty, need, and weakness—comes first for a reason. We need what God gives. We need our Father to give the Holy Spirit to us, that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, that the love of God is poured out within us exactly when the heat is on. Augustine summarized the immediacy of grace this way: “Give what You command and command what You will.” Some part of the good news of the Lord’s redemptive purpose, will, and promise is absolutely necessary—right now. The Bible models how ministry and life focus on one thing at a time. A good theology book rightly asks, “Who is God?”, and goes on to fill 400 pages with truths. But Psalm 121 cries out, “Where does my help come from?”, and seizes on one necessary thing: “The LORD keeps me.”

Third, a timely passage invites change. In the Bible’s vivid picture, we “turn” to our Father, Savior, and Comforter. Oriented to our current struggle, and embracing what God says, we come to Him. He works in us to one end: change. Faith works through love—here and now. The central dynamic of the Christian life is a FROM … TO … movement. “Repentance is not merely the start of the Christian life; it is the Christian life.”3 Faith does new transactions and conversations with God. Love does new actions and choices on the stage of life. When God calls, you listen. When He promises, you trust and talk back to Him from need. When He loves, you love. When He commands, you obey. You aim your life in a new direction by the power of the Holy Spirit who works with you. In every case, you turn.

These are the purposes of the whole Bible, the whole mission of our Redeemer. But a timely text brings truth down to consumable size. Think of it this way. When you get to know a person well, you come to know both the panorama and the details. But change walks out in the details.

The patterns, themes, and tendencies are like the view from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. From one hundred floors up, everything spreads serenely before you. But the action and noise of life happens at the corner of 5th Avenue & 34th Street and takes the Lincoln Tunnel home to Hoboken. Our lives work as stories, in a running series of scenes. Like a novel or movie, big themes work out in small scenes. This is how God has made it to be. This is how He works. This is something that would-be counselors often don’t get. It is something that preachers who do not counsel—and counsel well—often don’t understand. When you counsel (or preach) in great and good generalities, people will nod, but they rarely change. They rarely really change. Jesus works for a turn-the-world-upside-down reorientation and redirection. Ministry needs to know the big picture, but it always takes the elevator down to “G.” Get involved on the corner. Talk into the traffic noise. Drive over to Hoboken at rush hour. Change actually takes place in the watershed moments, choice points, and decisive incidents of everyday life.

So what does this look like while you’re actually talking with someone? What does it mean for what you give a person to take away into the week ahead?

David A. Powlison, "Think Globally, Act Locally", The Journal of Biblical Counseling: Volume 22, Number 1, Fall 2003 (Glenside, PA: The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, 2003). 3-5.

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Book review of Mark Driscoll’s–Who Do You Think You Are?

Thank you to Thomas Nelson BookSneeze program for the preview opportunity to review this work.

     Forgetting who we are in Christ is a stable diet for many believers, thanks to the fall and depravity.  In a culture of “I need to feel good about myself” and the never vanishing ‘self-esteem movement’, finally a work that brings out an exegetical commentary on the book of Ephesians presenting a biblical worldview in contrast to the psychologized drivel that is so prevalent in our society.  In acclaimed Driscoll style, a contextual work that brings the Bible into everyday life with a humble and scholarly tone that is refreshing in a world looking to define itself by many competing idols with much needed sobriety and candidness.

     I agree with Driscoll, we all live in an identity crisis.  This crisis produces worshippers (we all are worshipping something whether Christian or not).  By worship, Driscoll defines “Worship is the continuous outpouring of all that I am, all that I do, and all that I can ever become in light of a chosen or choosing god.”  This ‘worship’ is the product of the idols we have; of which he further defines as identity idolatry which can be thought in terms of Items, Duties, Others, Longings, and Sufferings (idols).  In light of the worship definition, it is easy to see how we can ‘worship’ these things.  It is also clear that religious language like ‘worship’ and ‘idolatry’ may produce the temptation to blow off the convicting truths that we are ‘idol factories’ as they may reveal that we are not as ‘good’ as we think we are or that our self-esteem is not as healthy as it should be.  The book of Ephesians provides the lens of the creation-fall-resurrection-restoration narrative we all walk through that define our everyday lives.  

     I enjoyed many things about this book.  Each chapter starts with a pericope of text from a chapter of Ephesians.  This is not your traditional Christian book which slaps three sentences of scripture text to sprinkle a ‘holy wand’ on the chapter.  Mark actually grabs large chunks of text and meticulously works through it in the coming pages.  I also like the footnotes on each page that point you to the exact Biblical references to concepts and points made in each chapter.  A few highlights from the book that I appreciated are,

Practically, focusing on just the sin aspect of our identity leads to despairing, navel-gazing Christians obsessed with their sin.  Such Christians wrongly think that the best sermons are those that beat them up by reminding them how awful they are—without any mention of their new identity in Christ.  The Word of God is not a club for beating Christians until they emotionally bleed as repayment for their sin.  Jesus already took our blows and shed His blood in our place.  And on the cross He did not say, “It is not finished, so beat yourself up to add to your salvation.”  He said, “It is finished!”

“C.S. Lewis was fond of saying that we are often guilty of “chronological snobbery.”  We arrogantly see people  from the past as more naïve, primitive, and less sophisticated than ourselves.  The truth is that people have always been the same, and today, people are as pagan in their thinking as ever.

“To varying degrees, we’re all guilty of participating in our culture of rudeness.  Which of us hasn’t become jealous when others succeed?  Yet we hate it when we are on the receiving end of this rudeness.”

“The true test of your theology is not just what you say, but also how you pray.”

“Bitterness is often related to how much you love the offender”

“Faith is an internal conviction that leads to an external action.”

    This book was interesting to me and will benefit future believers in my life as well.  It challenge, inspire, and enlightened me in reminding (see first quote above) that my desire for good theological sermons or messages has been also contributing to my forgetfulness of the good news of the gospel. Mark’s section on Spiritual Gifts, especially the introspective questions were very helpful, and I think it may also be helpful to not only ask them of ourselves but to ask our ‘communities’ these questions about our Christian witness as well.  Of course, Driscoll makes you think and hold’s your attention, and I found this especially helpful with the personal testimony stories that started each chapter.  It made them more real and transferable.  This commentary on Ephesians was presented in a cohesive, yet appealing manner, however, I wish there was a way to also bring the cross-references directly into the chapter rather than having to flip back and forth.  I would like to also note that there are already a myriad of resources out there to bring this work from conviction to application to implication.  Check out:  the Ephesians Campaign 

    Mark Driscoll successfully convey Biblical truth and this book is saturated in scripture, cross references and historical affirmations that is equally impressive.  I would highly recommend this book to all types of readers and humans alike as it addresses all of life, not just Sunday morning.

Who Do You Think You Are? Finding Your True Identity in Christ By Mark Driscoll / Thomas Nelson We answer how we are countless times each day, but rarely do we think about who we are. Revealing that we define ourselves by things other than Jesus, Driscoll identifies who you are in Christ—saintly, blessed, saved, afflicted, heard, and more. Discover that you’re not what you do; rather, who you are determines what you do. 256 pages, hardcover from Nelson.

From Connie and I to you…

John 3:16 can give us the message of Christmas.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

While this verse is often overlooked as being a “Christmas verse” we can easily see the loving, giving heart of the Father in that he gave His only begotten Son.

God the Father set the example of giving, and it was carried on through the life of Christ while He lived here on this earth. Jesus said in,

John 14:9 ESV  Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

This spirit of giving originated with the Father and radiated through the Son, and in turn Jesus commands us to do the same in,

John 13:34 ESV  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

This love is not based on feelings or emotions, otherwise Jesus would not have been able to “command” us to love. He is talking about the kind of love He had when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane,

Luke 22:42 ESV  saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."

He is talking about each one of us doing our part in love regardless of what we “feel” like at any given moment.

This is the kind of love that will visit a new friend’s home and hold the hand of one who is discouraged. This is the kind of love that will cry with another who cries, and who rejoices with another who rejoices. This is the kind of love that will look “beyond faults” and see the need.

We encourage you at this wonderful time of year to appreciate our giving God once again, and to minister to the “one another’s” all around us.  We call it the ministry of investing in others without needing the credit.  This season should reveal Prophet, Priest and King to all of us.  And emanate from all of us.  Some from the Word, some from life you lead, the actions you take, the inconvenient moments we all have every day.  Thank you for sharing your lives with us.  So Connie and I want to extend you Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year!!! 

And He said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God."
(John 6:65-69 ESV)

Happy Thanksgiving from Derek & Connie Iannelli-Smith

We wanted to take a moment to say ‘Thanks’ to you for being such an evidence of God’s grace in our life…

William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth Colony made this proclamation in 1623:

Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now, I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor, and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.”

During this season of Thanksgiving, I thought the above words would serve as a reminder that we are to be a people with a thankful heart for the many blessings God has bestowed upon us. Someone once said that true Thanksgiving, is first “thanks”, then “giving”. How true that is! When we really realize all that God has done for us, especially in sending His Son, Jesus Christ to this earth over 2,000 years ago, our hearts are filled with thankfulness which moves us to a life of service for Him.

If we begin to believe that somehow it is “our” strength and ability that has produced our blessings we have become deceived by our own thoughts. Just before the God’s people were going into the Promised Land, Moses gave these final words to them:

10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,

Deuteronomy 8:10-11 (ESV)

Moses goes on to warn the people that often the times we are tempted to forget God the most are the times of prosperity.

Looking back on this past year, Connie and I have been blessed greatly through God’s vessel, you… however we must always recognize that without the hand of God and His precious anointing, all our labors will be in vain. During this season of Thanksgiving, I encourage you to express your appreciation to the Lord for His blessings upon our families and friends. Truly, He has been and continues to be a good God!

 

 

Thanksgiving Blessings,

Derek & Connie Iannelli-Smith

Father Hunger: Why God calls men to love and lead their families by Doug Wilson

Thank you Thomas Nelson for the great privilege of being a reviewer in your Blog review program.  I have been changed by your investment!

In a society that has been severely degraded due to the absence of Father’s there is a growing movement in evangelical circles to call us back to the truth.  Doug Wilson’s newest work is one of those primaries every male should have on his discipleship shelf (well read before shelving of course).  After a recent failed attempt to reconcile with my estranged daughter, I have much needed comforting gospel-centered reminders when I am tempted to despair, this is a good encouragement.  Brie (my daughter) also was a part of the recent healing and of which I am grateful;

The best way to peer into the overall gist of the work, I would like to share some quotes which come from 3 different pivotal sections of the book;

A father is responsible to lead his children in a way that helps them think biblically about everything.

In contrast to this, consider Abraham Kuyper’s famous statement from his inaugural address at the Free University of Amsterdam.  “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry:  ‘Mine!”  If this is true, and it most certainly is, what are the ramification for education?

As was shown earlier, authority flows to those who take responsibility.  Taking responsibility is the foundation of all the true authority.  This means that reestablishing authority is accomplished by taking responsibility.  Often a simple reassertion of authority is an attempt to evade responsibility.  The point is reasserted so that some one else will do what needs doing.  This is not only impotent; it is counterproductive.

Further the titles of the chapters drive home some quite obvious points that are very bold and needed as well;

First Words, What Fathers Are For, A Culture of Absenteeism, Masculinity, False and True, Atheism Starts at Home, The Education Axle, Small Father, Big Brother, Escaping the Pointy-Haired Boss, Poverty and Crime at the Head of the Table, Church Fathers, Ha, Conflicted Feminism, The Fruitful Father, Some Father Mechanics, Our Father, It Starts with You.

We need more Doug Wilson’s, Mark Driscoll’s, Paul Washer’s, Matt Chandler’s, Edwin Cole, Patrick Morley’s.  We do live in a time when being a man is playing video games all the time, living with your parents, moral relativistic engagements of entitlement, and never responsible.  I remember having a ‘Courageous’ movie night at my house, I had to invite over 30 men to get 6 to show up.  Guys don’t need cowboy church or football themed worship services, what they need is to zip their pants up in the front.  We need bold voices in our culture speaking to our pride, self-righteousness, and avoiding responsibility hearts.  Until there is revival with men, the downward spiral continues.

Father Hunger will challenge, inspire, and enlighten every man to dust off their pride and confess and repent in the areas that need work.  This is not a soppy, wear a bib book, this book is going to take you to the places you do not want to go and it is about time.  Mr. Wilson does make you think, holds your attention, and it is presented in a cohesive, yet appealing manner.  Mr. Wilson also saturates his work with scripture (and much appreciated – indicative of a man who spends time with the Word), successfully conveys Biblical truth.   I would highly recommend this work to Men in all walks of life.

Father Hunger: Why God Calls Men to Love & Lead Their Families By Douglas Wilson / Thomas Nelson Absentee fatherhood seems to be the norm in today’s culture and it impacts everyone – families, children, wives, and husbands. Pastor and parenting expert Douglas Wilson reveals the true cost of invisible dads to families and society, encouraging them to be the fathers God calls them to be. Includes self-evaluation tools for dads to critique their fathering methods and a study guide for men’s Bible studies and small groups.

You need to see/feel things from my perspective and other forms of manipulation we use to destroy relationships

At the back of the Exemplary Husband (by Stuart Scott) study guide there is a great appendix article that I want to quote and is an apt topic for a discernment blog (these are my underlines);

Man is not a victim 

Many see themselves as little more than a victim of their circumstances. The truth is, victim is not a biblical word. Even those who are treated ruthlessly are not referred to as victims. There are several aspects of the word victim that we need to consider when addressing this view. If a person suffers an unprovoked crime or sin at the hands of someone else, the person suffering could be considered a victim in the sense that he is a receiver of unwarranted treatment. Our legal system will certainly designate him the victim of a crime.

But there are wrong ideas usually associated with the word victim. Most often, it carries with it the idea of complete innocence when referring to the one who has suffered the offense. This is rarely the case so far as the events are concerned and never the case so far as the heart is concerned (Psalm 14:2-3). Let me explain by way of an example.

If you are lawfully stopped at a traffic light when a drunk driver rear-ends your car, you are certainly legally innocent in the accident. The drunken person is obviously breaking the law of God and man by driving while intoxicated and by hitting you. If, by the grace of God, you get out of your car and help the drunk person with pure motives until an ambulance comes to examine you both (rather than yelling at him for ruining your bumper), you can still be considered spiritually innocent in this event. However, if you consider yourself to be a better person than the drunk, or look down at his sin in disgust, you are sinning the sin of pride and are, therefore, no longer innocent in the event.

I am not saying that God does not respond compassionately when we are wronged. He does (Hebrews 4:14-16; Isaiah 63:9). And, I am not saying that God will not hold the offender fully responsible. He will (Ezekiel 18:2, 20). What I am saying is that we must remember that God sees any reactionary sin on our part during an incident as grievous as well (Romans 12:14-21). And we must keep an offender’s sin in perspective of our own sin against a Holy God.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. Romans 14:10-13 ESV

Most people do sin in response to another person’s sin and most people do see their own sin as less offensive than another’s. When we have been wronged it can be very helpful to remember that nothing anyone has done to us is worse than our own sin against a Holy God. Since any good in our lives can only be accredited to God’s work in us (Jeremiah 17:9-10; Matthew 19:17; 1 Corinthians 4:7), and since our sin was so bad that God allowed His only Son to be killed in order to pay for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 15:3), we know that we are not in and of ourselves any better than anyone else because we sin on a regular basis.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. Romans 3:21-25 ESV (emphasis mine)

Secondly, the word victim can imply that a “senseless, never-should-have-happened” event has taken place. The danger here is to forget that loving sovereignty (perfect and purposeful control) of God in one’s life. While some events may indeed be tragic, God knows the end from the beginning and how that event can serve to humble a person (Job 42:1-6), draw a person to Himself (John 6:44), show Himself to be a greater-than-anything God (Jeremiah 32:17; Genesis 50:20) and/or reveal Himself to the sufferer as Refuge, Strength and Helper (Isaiah 57:15).

In short, only God has the ability to work all things together for both our good and His glory in a fallen world, never ignoring one to achieve the other. We must not take the view that something shouldn’t have happened to us. Is God not good? Is God wrong? Is God lacking in power? Obviously none of these are true according to the Bible.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, [1] for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Thirdly, the word victim often gives a person a hopeless outlook. No one who knows God is without hope, the ability to overcome and the resources to live with joy and thankfulness in spite of what has happened. This must sometimes be taken on faith until the truth and principles of God’s Word can be specifically applied to one’s situation and thinking (Genesis 50:20; John 20:24-29; 1 Corinthians 10:12-14; 1 Peter 1:6-7). Unfortunately, some individuals have been taught that they can never lead “normal” lives again. This is tragic because it utterly contradicts Scripture.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 2 Peter 1:2-4 ESV [emphasis mine]

Finally, the word victim usually allows a person to ignore personal responsibility. That brings us back to where we started. To be “a victim of your circumstances” is to declare yourself free from responsibility so far as thoughts, actions, usefulness and life direction are concerned. If we cannot help our responses, we conveniently cannot be held accountable for them. I have heard such statements as, “My sin is actually the result of a ‘sickness’ that I have because of what happened to me,” “I am this way because of my parent’s failures,” “I turned out this way because we were poor and I was exposed to many bad influences; I didn’t have a chance,” or “I have a disease or chemical imbalance; that is why I had to sin.”

This blame-shifting (whether subtle or not) is a grievous thing to my heart. I listen to these people as they seek to excuse themselves for their sin, knowing that at the same time they are removing all hope for themselves. Very often, people have been encouraged in these wrong beliefs by unbiblical counsel (which can even be “Christian” counsel). The truth is, we will be held accountable for our every thought, word, and deed.

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:12 ESV

The Bible clearly teaches that we are always responsible for our own sin, no matter what our circumstances are – not for the sin of others, but for our own sin. We cannot say that “so and so” causes us to do what we do. Our own sinful heart simply is given an opportunity to express itself in our difficult situations. We sin in response to these situations because sin is in us and because we choose to sin. Christians have a double responsibility because through salvation and the application of the Word of God, we don’t have to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:7-11 ESV [emphasis mine]

Many times the word victim allows a person to think of himself wrongly. When a person adopts the victim mentality, he usually develops self-pitying, self-righteous, or hopeless attitudes. Those who know God and abide in His truth can lead the kind of life that God intended, even if they have been greatly wronged. They simply must learn to apply the word of God to their circumstances.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV

The Truth About the Lordship of Christ by John MacArthur

Thank you Thomas Nelson for early preview of this work, this opportunity continues to be a blessing to me.

In The Truth About the Lordship of Christ, MacArthur is not dealing with minor problems or disputes peripheral to the faith, but with the crucial issue of all—namely, What does it mean to be a Christian? His answers in this condense work addresses what I consider to be the core issue of present-day Christianity.

Why is today’s church so pathetic? Why are we able to tout many conversions and grow church members but have less and less impact on our culture? How is it that Christians are indistinguishable from the world? Is it because we are calling the unregenerate/lost, Christians? Or is it that many are settling for a “form of godliness but denying its power”

(2 Timothy 3:1-5 http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F55003001-55003005(ESV))? This pivotal work in MacArthur’s Truth series is successful in turning true followers/disciples from the feeble gospel and deceitful propaganda of this age to a true gospel-centered focus. This work reveals a man whose conscience is clearly taken captive by the Word of God. It reveals that he knows how to read the Bible for what it actually says, and is fearless in proclaiming that Word to desperate and handicapped generation.

As with all of MacArthur’s works, this book was very interesting, concise, and thorough.  As always, MacArthur also challenges, inspires, and enlightens in a very charitable way.  MacArthur teaches us through scripture to discern and think;

• that there is no justification without regeneration. “You must be born again”                   (John 3:7 http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F43003007(ESV)).
• that faith without works is a dead (James 2:20 http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F59002020(ESV)).
• that the mark of true justification is a perseverance in righteousness—to the very end. “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved”      (Matthew 10:22 http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F40010022(ESV)).
• that faith in a Jesus who is Savior but not Lord, is faith in a Jesus of one’s own devising or idolatry, the making of Jesus Christ in our own image. The Jesus who saves is the Lord—there is no other—and it was He who said, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46 http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F42006046(ESV)).
• that if you want to serve Christ, you must deny yourself and take up His cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23 http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F42009023(ESV)).
• that “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14 http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F58012014(ESV)).

• that it is time for believers to own their maturity and responsibility before a sovereign Lord (Hebrews 5:13-14 http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F58005013-58005014(ESV)).

This revision of “The Gospel According to Jesus” in a booklet form presents itself in a cohesive, and yet appealing manner.  This work is saturated in scripture and I appreciated the non-italicizing (as in my flesh I tend to skip over them) of the scripture references and formatting them as part of the writing and text.  Well done.  I would recommend this book to all, in all walks of life, regenerate or unregenerate.

The Truth About the Lordship of Christ By John MacArthur / Thomas Nelson

The Explicit Gospel–by Matt Chandler & Jared Wilson(Audiobook Review)

Thank you christianaudio reviewers program for the opportunity to review this work, a blessing indeed!

In a culture of moral relativism, Christians have been spiraling into another worldview, that of “moral therapeutic deism,” Matt Chandler, new president of Acts29, thoroughly covers the biblical meaning of the explicit gospel confronting this ‘new’ Christianity.

The audiobook is divided into three parts, "The Gospel on the Ground" (which covers God, man, Christ and response or systematic theology topics) which refers to the gospel as it applies to specific individuals. The second part, "The Gospel in the Air," (discussed through the lens of creation, fall, redemption and consummation or biblical theology) which seeks to reveal that these individual salvation stories are part of God’s sovereign plan to bring all things to consummation in Christ. The "explicit gospel" holds these two perspectives together as mutually interwoven and complementary.  Finally, the book continues with applications and implications (what does this look like both bad and good).

I have been listening to Matt Chandler for a few years, so I was very excited with the opportunity to listen to this audio.  The gospel is always interesting to me, and Matt’s illustrations, humor, and contextual couth language brings the explicit to sobering reality.  This book was and will be very challenging to those who who think heaven is like in tom-n-jerry, or even warm-n-fuzzy prosperity.  This book will inspire too, in that, there is more to the gospel than doing stuff (going to church, reading the bible, etc.) it is about a savior who died.  The implications of fully understanding this, is what is explicit compared to the vague gospel so rampant in many churches today.   As I was listening to this, I was thinking about folks who would benefit from this.  Does your theology include loving God with all your mind?  Does God hold your attention?  Then this audio, to include the narrator, presented this work in an cohesive, yet appealing manner.  I also appreciated that Matt and Jared saturated this work successfully to convey deep Biblical truth in easy to understand language.  I would highly recommend this book to all, especially to those who have been ‘Christians’ for a while.  This audio would also be good for a new believer in that it might prevent the performance based routine of faith that many of us get into when we forget the gospel.

Called to Controversy: The Unlikely Story of Moishe Rosen and the Founding of Jews for Jesus by Ruth Rosen

Thank you Thomas Nelson for the humbling opportunity to review this work.

What if your child took a birds eye view of your life and wrote it down, what would it look like?  Ruth Rosen takes this task to heart as we read the biography of Moishe Rosen, the illustrious leader of Jews for Jesus.  What makes this biography unique is that it from the eyes of a family member who continues in the ministry her father started.  Her meticulous research and thoughtful commentaries on the events she covers also bring touching insight that I thought complimented the work well.

Why is it titled, “Called to Controversy?”  Ruth states that she puts some data to some controversial items in the history of her fathers starting of the JJ ministry that is not elsewhere.  Honestly, I was unaware of those controversies, and was more interested in the perception of Ruth of her father and the JJ movement so I probably missed whatever ‘controversies’ were addressed.

I was struck by this book many times and in sharing some quotes, I think you will see why;

Don’t let yourself become a desk jockey.  People spend too much time sitting at their desks.  You can’t witness on your seat; you gotta use your feet.  This made perfect sense to Moishe, and he never forgot the admonition.  Later, when it was his turn to supervise field missionaries, it was one of his guiding principles.

A lot of my principles came as counter measures to bad experiences.

But after the move, even though she was happy to entertain guests, she loved having a home life that was distinct from her husband’s work (this was a convicting reminder for me to remember my wife wanting some piece and quite from time to time).

I saw in Moishe a person with a biblically tough-minded reality about him that I did not often see in other in the ministry.  From the start, one of Moishe’s gifts was his ability to encourage others to exercise their own gifts.  Part of that encouragement was his genuine appreciation for what others could do.  (I was struck that his daughter saw this character quality in him and it touched me deeply in light of my own struggles with my daughter seeing reality.)

Dad’s insistence on the apology made us feel important; the incident stands out as a reminder of how Dad respected us and cared for our feelings. (An instance in which Ruth was wrongly accused of something and Moishe respectfully and firmly executed mediating the offending party to make things right)

What I learned about volunteers was, first, you had to give more of yourself to them.  And second, they were highly motivated – often more motivated than professionals.

The caveat, I guess I should have a higher view of it (Christian counseling) might be best interpreted as Moishe’s recognition that some Christian counselors genuinely help their clients.  But he felt that the proliferation of counseling degrees rather than theological degrees from Bible scholars and seminaries was not healthy, and that the potential for damage in the field was very high.

Moishe taught by example, and that included how to give an honest and meaningful apology, a skill that, while often overlooked, truly is a measure of greatness.

I found this book very interesting, as it challenged me with wanting to invest more in relationships than evangelism for the sake of evangelism  It inspired me by giving me hope that family does and will see the truth regarding good character, integrity, and doing the right thing.  It enlightened me by giving me hope that maybe my own daughter some day will see past the lies she was told do some investigating on her own.  I also liked how Ruth made me think throughout the book as she related her father’s thought processes, and reasoning’s for doing things, and especially conviction when doing right things. 

Ruth held my attention and the story held my attention as I was always looking to read more of her perspective of her father and his ministry.  I was also struck by the appendices in that Ruth shared a gospel presentation by her father and it really (for me) tied the whole book together in that, the purpose of his life (and ours) is to share the good news of Christ, and if she saw that through his life, so much that she continues with JJ today, wow… It was interesting to also find out that Moishe was part of the Council of Biblical Inerrancy with many other heavy hitters (“Moishe felt strongly that no group should outlive its usefulness.  He was immensely pleased that the ICBI chose to disband in 1988, satisfied that they had completed their task by clearly defining and bringing public attention to the issue of inerrancy.” 

I highly recommend this work to anyone interested in a biography, evangelism, character, integrity, and leaving a legacy.  May it inspire you as it did me.

Called to Controversy: The Unlikely Story of Moishe Rosen and the Founding of Jews for Jesus By Ruth Rosen / Thomas Nelson * Why did Moishe Rosen, a Jewish man raised in an Orthodox home, become the founder of Jews for Jesus? Showing how her father challenged the status quo for Jews and Christians alike, Rosen offers a comprehensive look at Moishe’s life, revealing the personality traits, principles, struggles, and successes that made him a controversial figure. 320 pages, hardcover from Nelson.

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