The Radical Question, A Radical Idea

JESUS! We say we love Him. We put His name on bumper stickers and license plates. But what if we are called to do more? What if going to church on Sundays and living a moral life isn’t all God’s asks of His followers.
In his book The Radical Question, Platt asks if it could be possible that God wants much much more then what the typical American believer is willing to give Him.
I have always enjoyed reading biographies of christians and books like Foxes Book of Martyrs. My one thought as I turn the last page every time is, what if that was me? Is my faith strong enough to hold on to God even while watching my loved ones tortured in front of me? Even though this book is barely 100 pages I experienced the same self questioning and soul searching.
In America we are told to follow our hearts, to do whatever feel right, that we should only do what feels good and is fun. THIS IS NOT LIVING FOR JESUS! We are called to so much more! Are we willing to truly sacrifice possessions, money, stability, and even family for the sake of the gospel? Is God worth giving up everything for? IIS JESUS ALONE ENOUGH to satisfy every want and desire and need?
Real love would be saying "YES! God hear I am." But its not easy. Its not comfortable and sometimes it hurts and feels overwhelming. THAT IS WHEN GOD takes over. When we fail He is enough. When we are done and at the end of our rope He CARRIES US. If you want your perfect world to be blown apart in a matter of minutes you have to get a copy of this book!
 5 of 5 stars
Don’t forget to purchase and extra copy to give to your best friend because you will want to share it!

To Buy this book

About the Author:

DR. DAVID PLATT, President of the International Mission Board, is deeply devoted to Christ and His Word. David’s first love in ministry is making disciples, sharing, showing, and teaching God’s Word in everyday life. David has written several books, Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me and most recently Counter Culture (to be released February 2015). 

David founded Radical (Radical.net), a ministry devoted to serving churches and disseminating disciple-making resources toward the end that the gospel might be made known in all nations.

Disclaimer:I received this book for free from the Publisher for this review, every opinion expressed here in is 100% my own.
 

The Gospel

"Managing Conflict Creatively" Summary

There was once a town that sat on the top of a large beautiful cliff. The only problem was that sometimes the children would be playing outside, and every once in a while a child would slip and fall off the cliff. The towns’ people decided to do something to solve this terrible problem. They decided to build a hospital at the foot of the cliff so that when the children fell off, they could be picked up quickly and have immediate care. Farther up the side of the mountain there lived an old wise miser.  When he heard about the town’s problem, and what they had done to solve it, he asked the people, “Would it not be a better solution to build a fence at the top of the cliff to prevent the children from falling off the edge and getting hurt in the first place?”

Managing conflict is similar to the story above. Some of the key principles that stood out from reading “Managing Conflict Creatively” by Donald C. Palmer were first of all that “Conflict well managed is conflict that is managed continuously and in its early stages.” In the story, the town had a problem, but instead of addressing it at its source or root, the people tried to fix the problem after the damage had already been done. 

Though this solution is not wrong and is better than no solution, it is far better to stop the problem before permanent injury is done. Thus the principle of continually dealing with conflict before it has time to simmer and develop into a serious issue is crucial. Every ministry is a combination of many different people and thus many different personalities. In such environments it is impossible to avoid conflict. If these conflicts are not resolved quickly and in a systematic way, they will eventually fester and develop into crippling problems. 

Another foundational principle is realizing that conflict itself, is not sinful or wrong. Conflict is not only natural, but can be healthy and is a catalyst of growth when handled correctly. The caution here is to not fall into sin when disagreements arise. “Whenever love is lost to hatred, gentleness to maliciousness, truthfulness to dishonesty, humility to selfishness; it is sin.” Like many things in the Christian walk, conflict management is predominantly about finding a balance between extremes.

One of the major causes of conflict in ministry specifically, is poor leadership. The roots of conflicts with leadership vary, but one of the most prominent is miscommunicated expectations. A practical principle to actively help prevent conflict in ministry is to simply communicate expectations clearly. For example, if a missionary talks to his mission board and understands that he is expected to spend so many hours a week networking or raising funds then he can be held accountable to do so. If however, this expectation was not clearly understood by the missionary because the mission board had not clearly communicated, it could be the beginning of a conflict that, if not resolved, could result in the missionary getting frustrated and leaving the field. Sadly, situations like the example above are not uncommon. That however, should only encourage seeking to solve conflict more, before it becomes a problem, and ultimately hinders God’s Kingdom moving forward.

The wise miser in the story saw that though the hospital at the bottom of the cliff was a good thing, it would be even better to prevent the children from falling off the cliff in the first place. Be like the old miser and commit to resolving conflicts before they fester and grow into church-splitting, ministry handicapping problems. Let conflict be the catalyst for positive change and the inspiration for new growth so that God’s Kingdom can be expanded and He can ultimately be glorified!

Stick-figure or Super-hero?

"What is spiritual discipline, and why is it important?" 

This was the question staring at me from the page of my small group devotional book. My first thought was that discipline is simply restricting or refraining from doing certain things (normally fun things). But as I continued to read I realized that my definition was like a stick figure next to a 3D superhero, totally deficient and lacking in comparison. During this last week I have been amazed at the way that different passages of scripture have popped out at me, all with the same overarching theme. 

In sunday school we looked at 1 Timothy 4:7-8 and Luke 12:35-37 which is talking about watching, waiting, and being ready for the coming of the Lord. If you read the whole passage it talks about a servant who falls into lethargy because the master of the house was gone for so long. The scary thing is that I have let myself do the same thing. I can't even count how many times I have allowed myself to dabble in sin because ' I can always repent of it later.' This is not the mind of Christ. 

As believers we are called to watch and be ready! Luke 12:40 warns that Jesus could come at ANY HOUR, we don't know when! It is this watchfulness and alertness mixed with the mentality of a dedicated runner (1 Corinthians 9:25-27; Hebrews 12:1-2) that turns a poky pining self denying stick-figure into an empowered joy filled super-christian. God calls us to be His soldiers. Watchful, ready, and disciplined. It is a beautiful calling. The difference is that while the stick-figure is struggling to obey a list of do's and don'ts in his own strength, the disciplined soldier has realized his weaknesses, surrendered to God, and obeys out of love, transforming into a God powered superhero. Which one are you?