Radical

I'd like to introduce you to my new friend:

Radical....by David Platt

I'm about three chapters in so far....

My early opinion:  This is a hard-hat, steel toes only area.

This book is not for the faint of heart.

This ain't no jive talkin'.

Um...

It's kinda hard to explain - I'll let Pastor David speak for himself.

Buckle up.

     "I am convinced that we as Christ followers in American churches have embraced values and ideas that are not only unbiblical but that actually contradict the Gospel we claim to believe." pg. 3

      "We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves." pg. 7

     "We are giving into the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with....A nice, middle-class, American Jesus....who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts....who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes...A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity..." pg. 13

     "And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshipping the Jesus of the Bible.  Instead we may be worshipping ourselves."  pg. 13

     "We spurn our Creator's authority over us.  God beckons storm clouds and they come.  He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately.  He speaks to the mountains, "You go there," and he says to the seas, "You stop here," and they do it.  Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator...until you get to you and me.  We have the audacity to look God in the face and say,'No'." pg.31

     "Both our diagnosis of the situation and our conclusion regarding the solution fit nicely in a culture that exalts self-sufficiency, self-esteem and self-confidence.  We already have a fairly high view of our morality , so when we add a superstitious prayer, a subsequent dose of church attendance, and obedience to some of the Bible, we feel pretty sure that we will be all right in the end." pg. 32

     "What happened at the Cross was not primarily about nails being thrust into Jesus' hands and feet but about the wrath due your sin and my sin being thrust upon his soul...One preacher described it as if you and I were standing a short hundred yards away from a dam of water ten thousand miles high and ten thousand miles wide.  All of a sudden that dam was breached, and a torrential flood of water came crashing toward us.  Right before it reached our feet, the ground in front of us opened up and swallowed it all.  At the Cross, Christ drank the full cup of the wrath of God and when he had downed the last drop, he turned the cup over and cried out,'It is finished.'" pg. 36

     "We have taken the infinitely glorious Son of God, who endured the infinitely terrible wrath of God and who now reigns as the infinitely worthy Lord of all, and we have reduced Him to a poor puny Savior who is just begging for us to accept Him." pg. 37

     "I invite you to consider with me a proper response to this gospel.  Surely more than praying a prayer is involved.  Surely more than religious attendance is warranted.  Surely this gospel evokes unconditional surrender of all that we are and all that we have to all that he is." pg. 37

     "Here the gospel demands and enables us to turn from our sin, to take up our cross, to die to ourselves, and to follow Jesus....And salvation now consists of a deep wrestling in our souls with the sinfulness of our hearts, the depth of our depravity and the desperation of our need for his grace.  Jesus is no longer one to be accepted or invited in but one who infinitely worthy of our immediate and total surrender."  pg. 39

Total surrender.  Total surrender.  Total surrender.  Lord, help my unbelief.