Book Reviews

Book Review: “With” by Skye Jethani

Chris

Is it your desire to connect with and honor God? Do you strive to know Him and hope for Him to be real in your life? How would you feel if you were told that the way you are seeking after God may not be working because you aren’t going about it the way that works.

God wants us to be with Him, but all too often we fall into the trappings of a different way of relating with Him. In With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, Skye Jethani (senior editor of Leadership Journal) challenges us to identify which of four postures we currently relate to God from, and return to the heart of being with Him.

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Christian Living

One Reason for Regular Church Attendance

Chris

This is one of the reasons Christians gather weekly for corporate worship. In these gatherings we recalibrate our lives to the story of God in the Scriptures. We place our story in the context of His, and we remember where hope is to be found. In our songs and sharing we encourage one another with the reminder that “thank God we shall not live here always!”

Skye Jethani in “With” (Thomas Nelson, 2011)

Christian Living, Ministry

Why I Decided to Use a Common Phrase from Christian Lingo

Chris

For ten years I have sent countless e-mails, left many voicemail messages and walked away from thousands of one-on-one conversations in the role of a pastor. I try to be mindful of every word that I speak.

I am always cautious of any phrase that seems like a gimmick or might be taken as insincere. If you have spent much time in Christian circles, and especially in ministry, you know that there are many phrases that have their day in the limelight. I prefer to have a point, a purpose in mind, and don’t like gimmicks. As a result, there is one phrase that I have avoided using . . . until recently.

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Bible, Book Reviews

Book Review: “Erasing Hell” by Francis Chan & Preston Sprinkle

Chris

erasing_hell_coverThere has been a lot of discussion over who said what and what the Bible says about Hell. If you have taken note of the discussion, or are just curious, this book will interest you.

But there is far more at stake than the “Hell” debate, and Chan & Sprinkle make it clear right from the beginning. This is about more than doctrine; it is about the destinies of human beings.

Erasing Hell is not a direct response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins book that started the recent rounds of debate. While Chan & Preston refer to Bell in a couple of chapters, it is not a Bell-bashing book. It is an investigation into the biblical description of Hell.

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Christian Living

Being A Christian Should Affect How Your Boss Sees You

Chris

You probably know the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Some of the top guys in the kingdom of Persia didn’t like that Daniel was getting so friendly with King Darius. So they tricked the king into signing a law that no one could pray to anyone but him for 30 days. Daniel, of course, only prayed to God, and did so three times a day. It was easy for them to catch him breaking the new law and have him sentenced to the lion’s den.

But there’s a part of this story that we might miss if we do not read the story slow enough. There is something for us to learn from Daniel and his relationship with his boss, King Darius.

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Book Reviews

Book Review: “Rumors of God” by Darren Whitehead & Jon Tyson

Chris

If you have spent any time in Christian settings, you have probably heard about what God has done . . . in the past. He blessed Abraham with a son at 100 years old, freed Israel from slavery and parted the Red Sea, healed the sick by the hands of Jesus and the apostles. But is God still working today?

Taking the lead from the prophet Habakkuk, Whitehead & Tyson encourage us to ask God to renew His works in our day in Rumors of God: Experience the kind of faith you’ve only heard about. And for those of us who aren’t sure what to look for or where to begin looking, they share “rumors” with us; rumors of how God is at work around us today.

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