Most of us learned long ago that no structure is any stronger than its foundation. Although many features may make any building more ascetically pleasing, those features do not add to its strength. These only appeal to the eye. Admittedly, as someone who has had quite a bit of building experience over the years, I [...]
News over the past 3 days has been saturated with coverage of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami to hit the nation of Japan. Now all eyes are on nuclear reactors which have been damaged by the earthquake and there is growing fears of a meltdown which might have long-term and far-reaching effects on, [...]
Our country is in love with the cult that is celebrity. There is an unmistakable fascination with those who are famous. Women faint at rock concerts, people pay 25 bucks for two tickets to see Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DeCaprio, and others in their latest feature film. Americans sit glued to their television sets [...]
The fastest growing church category currently in America is the Cowboy Church. The reason is not because there has arisen a sudden revival in all things “cowboy,” but because the cowboy church is characterized by simplicity. In his 1970s hit, entitled, Luchenbach Texas, Waylon Jennings extolled the virtues of casting aside the world’s version of [...]
Recent weeks have brought about increasing unrest, instability, and even chaos to the Middle East region. For a few weeks Egypt has dominated headlines as violent protests eventually led to the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. Now, Libya is dominating headlines as Moammar Kadafi is under fire to leave his country. Add this to the [...]
5. Commit your life to a multiplying community. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the multiplying community. These days, for some reason, so much of what is done is done outside the context or community of the church (the body of Christ) as though the church were no longer adequate or relevant. Platt [...]
3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose. You may already give the minimum 10 percent that God requires and you may already support special offerings taken by the church. But Platt is calling on people to not be satisfied with merely fulfilling that obligation. He points out that our hearts typically follow our money. [...]
The second challenge issued by David Platt in his book Radical is, 2. Read through the entire Word. Systematically read through the Word of God – Genesis 1:1 – Rev. 22:21. The Bible contains 31,101 verses; read them all in a year! In some places in this world, people have to read/study the Bible secretly [...]
This time we begin to look at the 5 challenges David Platt issues in his book, Radical: Taking back your Faith from the American Dream. 1. Pray for the entire world. We live in a world where 4.5 billion people are without Christ. More than 1 billion are near starvation. Mat. 9:35-38 reveals to us [...]
The American mindset is we want it quick, we want it easy, and we want it to be effective. We eat microwavable meals or we eat out. We would even prefer to just give our tithe, or an offering above our tithe, and set back, relax, and expect someone else to share Jesus for us, [...]