Do We Believe The Bible?

A powerful word here from David Platt.  "Intellectual Universalism is dangerous, but Functional Universalism is worse."

HT / JT

Radical Together

David Platt's new book, Radical Together; Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God, is set to release April 19.  It goes without saying, that I am excited to read this one.  The publisher has made the first chapter available for preview = bonus!  Let's check it out:

Radical Together by David Platt (Chapter 1)

Love in the Truth.

Have a Radical New Year

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
By David Platt

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. [Romans 15:13]

As the new year kicks off, open your heart to the Gospel with a fresh perspective through these radical action plans based on the New York Times bestseller, Radical,by David Platt.

FOR INDIVIDUALS & FAMILIES

• New Year’s Resolution #1: Pray.
• New Year’s Resolution #2: Read.
• New Year’s Resolution #3: Give.
• New Year’s Resolution #4: Go.
• New Year’s Resolution #5: Serve.

Download the complete action plan for INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES here.

FOR SMALL GROUPS

• Choose unreached people groups to pray about monthly through the year.
• Make every member of your group a Bible teacher.
• Figure out how to make your group a “gospel investment club.”
• Turn your small group into a missions team in 2011.
• Plan for the multiplication of your small group in the new year.

Download the complete action plan for SMALL GROUPS here.

FOR CHURCH LEADERS

• Lead your church to “pray around the world” in 2011.
• Start a church-wide Bible reading plan.
• Give a “firstfruits” offering to the Lord.
• Set your most ambitious mission goals ever for 2011.

Download the complete action plan for CHURCH LEADERS here.

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Do you believe that Jesus is worth abandoning everything for? Do you believe him enough to obey him and to follow him wherever he leads, even when the crowds in our culture -maybe even our churches- turn the other way?”

In Radical, David Platt invites you to encounter what Jesus actually said about being his disciple, and then obey what you have heard. He challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated a God-centered gospel to fit our human-centered preferences. With passionate storytelling and convicting biblical analysis, Platt calls into question a host of comfortable notions that are common among Christ’s followers today. Then he proposes a radical response: live the gospel in ways that are true, filled with promise, and ultimately world changing

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RESOURCES

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www.RadicalTheBook.com
Download Chapter One
Read Chapter 9 – The Radical Experiment: One Year to a Life Turned Upside Down
View Video
Order the Book
Bulk Discounts

Love in the Truth

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The God-Centered Life

Another blessing from David Platt.  Seriously, if you don't podcast this guy, you should.



Love in the Truth.

Our God-Centred God

This was such a blessing to me this morning, I just had to share it. I trust that it will bless you as well. Take the time to invest 45 minutes - you won't be disappointed! "Our lives are His to spend".



Love in the Truth.

Radical - A Review

Radical: Taking back your faith from the American Dream is a dangerous book written by a dangerous man - David Platt. As Platt states from the outset, "you and I can choose to continue with business as usual in the Christian life and in the church as a whole, enjoying success based on the standards defined by the culture around us. Or we can take an honest look at the Jesus of the bible and dare to ask what the consequences might be if we really believed him and really obeyed him" (pg 3). What is so dangerous about that? The question assumes that most of us don't really believe and don't really obey Jesus. And the sad reality is that we don't. In the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who Platt quotes, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." Platt unpacks the biblical gospel and reveals the fact that "the gospel does not prompt you into mere reflection; the gospel requires a response" (pg 21).

Radical is nine chapters, and at 217 pages (excluding end notes and acknowledgements) it can be read in one sitting. I know because I read it in one sitting; it was that good and engaging. There were plenty of times, as Russell Moore said in his endorsement, that I wanted to put it down because I was "uncomfortably targeted by the Holy Spirit." David Platt doesn't just talk the talk in this book; he walks the walk. Every chapter is woven with the experiences of one who not only asked the questions, but searched for the answers. Platt is a "doer".

There really is no "safe" chapter in this book. Page after page you are confronted with two pictures; Biblical Christianity and North American Christianity. One fact leaps out time and time again - "one of these things is not like the other." If you can remember doing any "spot the difference" puzzles as a kid, in Radical, spotting the differences is not hard, admitting they exist is. We come face to face with a Universal Church that has "nothing but the people of God and the Word of God. And strangely, that's enough." While we "fill our lives with the constant drivel of entertainment {because} we are afraid that if we stop and really look at God in his Word, we might discover that he evokes greater awe and demands deeper worship than we are ready to give him."

In the end every excuse we in the North American Church come up with for our disobedience is just that an excuse. None of them stand in light of Scripture, they never have. "{God} doesn't give options for people to consider; he gives commands for people to obey." If you are comfortable where you are right now don't read this book. Platt takes it one step further, "to everyone wanting a safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus."

I have been looking forward to this book since I heard of it's release date and it did not disappoint. Radical is one of the best books I have ever read period. I would and will recommend it to all.

Love in the Truth.

We Need Him!

Love in the Truth.