In The Whole in Our Gospel: The Answer that Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World, Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision, makes a call for a holistic gospel which does not just consist of correct theological convictions but also includes having the heart of Jesus for the least of these.  This book was a challenge to the American church to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and taking Jesus at his words with regard to the cost of following Him.  Stearns notes that American Christianity has embraced an unbiblical view of the gospel and the kingdom of God.  The dangerous tendency is to see the gospel and kingdom of God as a far off thing that only matters in eternity, but as Stearns so clearly defends, the gospel should transform the lives of those around us in the world here and now.

This timely challenge is presented clearly through stories of the lives of people who have been impacted positively through the ministry of World Vision and also the struggles that the author has gone through personally in coming to embrace a holistic gospel himself.  Stearns does an effective job of presenting the deep needs that are being faced by people all over this planet and connecting it to the great resources and opportunity that we as Christians have to engage these deep needs.  This book is a challenging call for Christians and the church to stop talking and theorizing about missions and reaching the world and to embody the gospel by reaching out to serve through your time, talent, and treasures to truly love your neighbor, even your neighbor on the other side of the globe.  Reading this book will change your perspective and cause you to reevaluate if there is truly a hole in your gospel.

In case you missed it yesterday.  Here is Rick Warren’s prayer from the inauguration of President Obama:

Almighty God, our Father:
Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone.
It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.
History is your story.
The Scripture tells us, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.
Now today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.
We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.
Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity.
Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.
Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans—united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.
When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you—forgive us.
When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone—forgive us.
When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve—forgive us.
And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.
Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.
May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.
And may we never forget that one day, all nations–and all people–will stand accountable before you.
We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.
I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, ‘Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

I am pleased that Rick Warren did not shy away from the divisive and holy name of Jesus Christ!  Warren has arisen as a faithful pastoral voice in America.  May God continue to use Rick Warren for His glory!

Yesterday, I was listening to Matt Chandler’s sermon from the Village Church last Sunday, and he had a very interesting illustration that I cannot get off of my mind.  Matt was talking about the tendency we have to seperate our affections for God from our theology about God.

Matt said to imagine that he is working late in his office and goes to turn off his computer and sees his wife’s picture on the computer background.  After seeing this picture, it sparks within Matt a burning desire to be with and show his love to his wife. So, Matt rushes home and runs up to his wife.  He begins to talk to her saying, “I love you!  I love your black hair and green eyes!  I love everything about you!”  This is something that most would see as a great display of affection and communication of Matt’s love for his wife.  The only problem is that Matt’s wife has blonde hair instead of black hair and blue eyes instead of green eyes.  In this picture, Matt has displayed affection, but he has gotten it all wrong because he does not know the person whom he is displaying affection for.

Matt goes onto say that this is what we so often do with God.  We rush into His presence with praise about characteristics that we have imposed on Him because we really do not know Him.  We have placed upon God the characteristics that we desired God to have because we do not know of His characteristics.  We then turn away from God frusterated because the god that we have created in our minds is not the God of scripture.

If our theology of God is divorced from our worship of God, we are not really worshiping the God of scripture.  We are worshipping a god made not by human hands but by our own minds.  This is not the God of the Bible, but our own version of a god made in our image.

In 13 Ways to Ruin Your Life: A Practical Guide for Guys, author and speaker Jarrod Jones outlines a biblical exposition of Proverbs 7.  Jarrod brings practical stories from his own life and experiences to bring the truths of Solomon’s proverb of the fool falling into sexual sin to life.  He is very straight forward and Christ-centered in his approach to the topic of sexual purity.  This book also provides discussion questions to follow up this study with an accountability partner.  Jarrod does an excellent job in presenting the trap of sexual sin and some practical ways to steer clear of failing in this area.  This book is also grace centered and provides encouragement and grace for people who have fallen into sexual sin but also refuses to back down from the seriousness of sexual sin.  Jarrod presents a radical call to sexual purity in a way that presents Biblical truth in a very practical way to call guys of all ages back to a Christ-centered view of sexuality.  If you or your small group is interested in ordering this book, it can be ordered online at Jarrod’s website. 

I just finished two different books by Mark Driscoll with regard to reaching out to people and the role of the church in evangelism called The Radical Reformission and Confessions of a Reformission Rev.  These were very good and challenging books calling Christians to live out the gospel and be the church.  

There are two primary methods according to Driscoll that churches typically use for evangelism.  The first method is doing a service or an event at the church in order to draw people to church to meet Jesus Christ through a message by a pastor.  The second method is for the church to arm Christians with tracts and other religious materials in order to have them go up to random people in order to present the gospel to them.  Driscoll notes some concerns regarding both of these methods of evangelism and calls the church to a different way.

Driscoll’s third way is a missional and intentional form of evangelism.  This focuses on making the church a community where the Christians are prepared and empowered to live intentionally and share Jesus with people around them.  This way also focuses on allowing the church to be a community in which people who do not know Jesus can feel welcome and get to see Him living through the lives and service of the Christians in the context of the community of the church.  

This is a very interesting and challenging way to look at evangelism.  I think that Driscoll has a heart and passion for those who do not know Jesus and has been very intentional to build a church that is making a huge impact on their city.  I am encouraged and challenged by this idea and what God is doing in and through Driscoll’s ministry.

Today we will look at the second North Point Community Church ministry environment, Up Street.  Up Street ministers to elementary children through a Sunday morning program which includes large group environments, with a time of worship along with a teaching time, and small group environments, focused on discussion and activities.  Through both of these group environments, Up Street seeks to focus on three truths:

• I need to make wise choices.
• I can trust God no matter what.
• I should treat others the way that I would want to be treated.

I just left the third session of the Passion Atlanta Regional.  In this session, the David Crowder Band led worship and Louie Giglio spoke.  Louie’s message centered around focusing on the cross in the midst of trials and tribulations.  The part of the message that impacted me were some of the things that Louie outlined that we can hear from the cross of Christ with regard to our trials:

• “God loves you.”
• “God allows freedom but maintains control.”
• “God can take the worst and use it for God.”
• “God paints on a canvas bigger than we can see or understand.”

If you find yourself in the mist of trials and the unknown, I hope that these truths are an encouragement to you.  They were definitely an encouragement to me.  More coming after session 4.

I am getting a few quick minutes to blog before the second session of the Passion Atlanta Regional.  This morning Charlie Hall lead worship while Francis Chan spoke.  His message was about the power of the Holy Spirit.  He talked about how we have been taught bad theology about the Holy Spirit through our time in church.  This bad theology is that the Holy Spirit comes into your life upon accepting Christ as Savior and then has no further role in the life of a Christian.  Francis shared a story about how he had a conversation with some Jehovah’s Witnesses at his door about how they should look at the Bible for themselves and not live their lives and theology based off of what some person has said.  This was encouraging and challenging to me.  I think that it is very important that we go to scripture in search of truth and not just rely on others views.  Francis went on to discuss that we need to live our lives not through our own power but the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work in us.  This was very encouraging and yet challenging.  Francis went on to talk about the struggle in his own life with regards to his speaking abilities.  He said that he can speak a good message without the power of the Holy Spirit, yet the Holy Spirit cannot use that message to bring the effects that He would desire the message to have with a message being preached from Francis’s own strength.  This is a struggle that I have also and could really relate to.  He ended his sermon by talking about how God can and wants to use all of us in His global mission.  I am encouraged and challenged.  More updates to come.

I am working on a theme for the blog for March.  I want to see if anyone has any ideas or suggestions of a topic or theme that would be interesting to you for this blog to address in March.  Please post suggestions below.

Mark Driscoll is the pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington.  Mark has been recently brought to my attention through a podcast recommendation from a friend.  He has written several books, is a frequent contributor on the Resurgence blog, and communicates biblical truth in a very media driven and modern way.  Mark has caused some controversy in Christian circles not for his theology but rather for the way that he communicates and the words that he uses.  He is clearly not afraid of using shock value to make a point in a sermon.  One thing that Mars Hill Church is doing that is definitely worth taking note is that they offer a school of lay theology in which they train church members on doctrine, the church in culture, and worldviews.  This is a great asset and addition to the church.  One of the sessions from this program that I listened to focused on the church in culture and gave practical ideas on how to share the gospel to people with a postmodern mindset.  Another program highlighted some practical ways to use movies and themes from movies as a way to present the gospel to people.  Mars Hill is changing the way people do church by providing some places for deeper study in order to equip its people to minister to those around them.