Archive for the 'Discipleship' Category
John Piper. Battling Unbelief: Defeating Sin with Superior Pleasure. Multnomah, 2007. 176 pp.
Battling Impatience
In God’s Place, At God’s Pace, By Future Grace
Impatience is a form of unbelief. It’s what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God’s timing or the goodness of God’s guidance. It springs up in our hearts when our plan is interrupted or shattered. It may be prompted by a long wait in a checkout line or a sudden blow that knocks out half our dreams. The opposite of impatience is not a glib denial of loss. It’s a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness to wait for God in the unplanned place of obedience, and to walk with God at the unplanned pace of obedience—to wait in his place, and go at his pace. And the key is faith in future grace. . . .
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Charles H. Dunahoo. Making Kingdom Disciples: A New Framework. P&R, 2005. 249 pp.
An Overview of the Kingdom Model
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave his final command to his church about their assignment during the interim between his ascension and his return at the end of the age. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20).
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Walt Mueller. Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth. IVP, 2006. 239 pp.
In a world where the lost long to be found, Jesus still commands his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations.”
This is a book about obedience to the Great Commission in a rapidly changing culture. I want to help you think seriously about our responsibility to go to the unique “nation” of young people living in our current postmodern culture, as well as subsequent cultures sure to emerge.
Whether we admit it or not, we’ve become increasingly ineffective at the task. We haven’t kept up in our ability to listen to and understand our world and its cries for redemption. We need to take a fresh look at what it means to live and proclaim God’s will and way as we cross cultures into the mission field of youth.
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John Ensor. The Great Work of the Gospel: How We Experience God’s Grace. Crossway, 2006. 192 pp.
The washing away of shame and guilt is properly the experience of God’s Great Work that accompanies our faith in Christ. . . .
Experiencing Forgiveness
The punishment that Christ bore on our behalf—a complete punishment for all our sins and a just punishment for each of them—cleared the way for the free flow of God’s mercy. In terms of our human experience, putting our faith in Christ and his Great Work on the cross means that we experience this mercy as a clean conscience and a bold, expectant confidence in drawing near to God. That too is part of the Great Work. The cross and our trust in the cross are akin to a gate being opened and a gate being entered. . . .
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Andy Stanley & Bill Willits. Creating Community: Five Keys to Building a Small Group Culture. Multnomah, 2004. 192 pp.
Five Keys to Building a Small Group Culture
- People Need Community
- Leaders Need Clarity
- Churches Need Strategy
- Connection Needs Simplicity
- Processes Need Reality
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John Avant. Authentic Power: How to Unleash It in Your Life. Multnomah, 2006. 240 pp.
Scripture reveals that God’s normal method of operation is to show His power to His people. It’s just that we’re rarely ready to see it. But when we are, when we have set our hearts on living in the resurrection realm, where power is the norm, we can expect to see God faithfully demonstrate His power. When He does this in memorable, faith-building ways, I call these SIPs: Sacred, Intimate, Places. These are holy moments when God is more real than the air we breathe.
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John Piper. Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen. Crossway, 2006. 192 pp.
There is a great lesson here for teachers and preachers: to hold young minds there should be both intellectual credibility and joyful, passionate zeal for Christ.
Paul made much of the truth of his message and the need to get it exactly right, even if the messenger was not exactly right. For example, in Philippians he was tolerant of those who with bad motives preached in order to make his imprisonment worse – because they were saying the objective truth about Christ.
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Daniel Henderson. Think Before You Look: Avoiding the Consequences of Secret Temptation. AMG, 2005. 160 pp.
Research shows that 60% of Christian men are addicted to pornography, and it is destroying many families. It easily creates a life pattern of deception, and it is a pathway to infidelity.
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7–8)
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