| Poster | Thread |
| | Re: | | Quote:
Is the PD book an imperfect tool that God can use to turn men away from sin and to Him?
Or is it a wicked tool that will further harden men against the gospel.
I haven't thought this through, but for now I'm all for sinners coming to the Lord, loving Him and hating sin, whatever their entry point. I am praying for revival and if this is one way God will use to bring souls to the Kingdom, I can't disagree with any such tool, however imperfect.
You pose an interesting question. As I stated before, I believe good does come out of the PD movement.
I dont, however, believe that just because good comes out of something then we should ignore whats wrong with it. As you said, people get saved reading teh Good News Bible... but that doesnt mean I'm going to recommend it to everyone.
Paul said that he praised God for souls saved thru men who had the wrong intentions... but yet he did not hesitate one bit to name the names of men in his day who were teaching false doctrines. See, he wasnt praising the [b]men[/b] for preaching the gospel even with wrong intentions... he was praising [b]GOD[/b] that people were being saved. Period. But he took a bold stand against heresy and heretics. (I'm not calling Rick Warren a heretic!)
Krispy |
|  2005/3/11 11:47 | | mtembezi
Member
Joined: 2004/10/28
Posts: 66
Nairobi, Kenya
| | Re: | | Quote:
You pose an interesting question.
Yes, I do.
I guess I expressed myself incorrectly.
I'm not against pointing out wrong things about a message or a ministry. I appreciate that. And by God's grace I want to be sensitive and discerning.
But here's why my question is so pointed:
For the first time, there's a book that could get the unsaved to walk into a church, many churches, where the gospel is preached. And a book that's being sold at cost, making it accessible to many. So there's this excitement that it can bring people to the Lord.
But I don't want to pour my heart into--for lack of better expression-- a Trojan horse, that's why I asked to know how 'bad' the book is.
Anyway, here's another related question:
I'm so attracted to sermonindex because I listen to messages with depth, depth that I don't experience in my home church and among those I fellowship with.
So what am I to do? Leave my church? Quit BS? Pray my leadership aflame?
Confront (in love) my leadership?
I mean, I wish we were studying...I don't know... some deep book that exposed our hearts for what they truly are. A book that revealed God's holiness beauty and majesty that would cause us to barely look up in reverence, godly fear and humility. You know.. a book that would reveal to the average Christian the peril of hell that awaits their unsaved relative or friend, so much so that they would stop being so worldly and earnestly pray and witness.
I'm not joking, that's my heart cry.
But knowing that may not happen in the average church (until God answers our revival prayers), let alone attract an unbeliever into our churches, what am I to do?
_________________
Richard Walker
|
| | 2005/3/11 12:23 | Profile | Matt25
Member
Joined: 2004/3/19
Posts: 69
Athens Ga
| | Re: The Purpose Driven Thread | | Two years ago when my fiance and I were attending a conservative (conservative = actually believes the bible) church they went through the "40 days of purpose" campaign. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. Every Sunday they would have one of the congregates make a speech about what the "Purpose Driven Life" has done in their lives. It was tragic because when's the last time a church made a concerted effort to have people get up to talk about the impact the New Testament has had on their life???
The church is in a very tragic state. I'm with Ravenhill when he says "I'm embarrased to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ which is so totally radically different from the New Testament ...so impoverished, so blind, so powerless." (Revival Hymn @ 24 minutes 36 seconds or 24:36)
_________________
Matt M.
|
| | 2005/3/25 23:20 | Profile | inotof
Member
Joined: 2005/1/7
Posts: 267
Morehead, KY
| | Re: | | i ran across a book the other day that really touches on a lot of stuff that we've had threads on the past few weeks (Revolve, Wild at Heart, PDL etc.) It's a series of essays in which John Macarthur is the genreal editor. They do a great job of disceting PDL. Just FYI, it's called "Fool's Gold"
_________________
David
|
| | 2005/3/26 10:34 | Profile | deltadom
Member
Joined: 2005/1/6
Posts: 2359
Hemel Hempstead
| | Re: | | I read it and got bored of it, I wish I read it in full so that I could fully disagree or agree with it. But I did think it was a hard read and very badly put together. I cant actually remember anything out of it which shows what a good books it is. Because good books I normally remember quotes this one nothing
_________________
Dominic Shiells
|
| | 2005/4/7 21:06 | Profile | mtembezi
Member
Joined: 2004/10/28
Posts: 66
Nairobi, Kenya
| | Re: | | Quote:
inotof wrote:
It's a series of essays in which John Macarthur is the genreal editor. They do a great job of disceting PDL. Just FYI, it's called "Fool's Gold"
Thanks brother,
Our church is in the 2nd week of PD.
I can't give an accurate perspective, except that I wish less contemporary versions of the Bible were used as reference.
I hope I can find a way to get the book "Fool's Gold".
But this has been my experience.
I've had opportunity to lead a group at my office, and had an opportunity to have unbelievers be confronted again with the Gospel, ask questions as to why they should be saved, and by God's grace clearly explain.
This has been very close to my heart, I consider myself a missionary to my office.
I also know a friend who committed herself to serving in prisons ministry as a result of going through PD.
That doesn't mean much, as there are hundreds or more in our city who may have gone through the book unchanged.
There's another thread "Re: Rick Warren Teams Up With New-Age Guru Ken Blanchard"
I've never heard of this guy Ken Blanchard, but a quick visit to Amazon did actually prove that he's authored a book on what the review says are "buddha's gentle words'.
I'm a bit grieved and a bit confused.
Sometimes I'd rather not know stuff about someone.
Almost like "If there's something useful (useful in this case means draw people ot Christ) in this book/ministry use it!"
It's just that if I dig into virtually anybody's life I find sin, and that they're not truly walking in the light. Especially those who are in the limelight.
However I can't ignore what I know now.
I don't know if this makes sense, but this is what I think my attitude should be:
Eventually, I can only be responsible for myself.
So I trust God to work in me, to keep me pure and constantly hating sin, and to love Him first.
I recognize also that I'm responsible for my words.
So to all I'm priviledged to speak to, I present the fullness of gospel according to all Scripture as I know it.
And to believer, I challenge to live a holy life, and to set apart Christ as Lord.
I'm trying to always walk in the light, but I know I haven't attained. And my prayer is to be faithful till the end. That when I'm old and gray and bent, still have Christ as my first love.
But I have to live in the place I'm in (I think so), and that means people who don't see as I do. I have to go to a church where I don't tiptoe out awed and hushed by the Lord, as much as I yearn for that and pray for such Sundays. I don't know of any church that has such Sunday meetings, perhaps they're there, I pray there are.
But I love my church still. Oh how I sometimes pray that the glory of God would fall and people would be confronted by the holiness of God and darkness of their hearts and walk out changed, awed, eternity conscious!
But truth be told, I'm not always in tears for the body of Christ, or for the lost. I know how hard it is to constantly set apart time to seek God in the closet, and to constantly die to myself. I know a little bit of the pressure that a leader of a ministry feels, having been put in charge of a ministry that is dear to me but that stretches me.
I guess I'm just hurt. Hurt that this world is bound and going to hell and some Christian leaders aren't faithful. Hurt that I too am not as faithful and as consumed as I know I can be.
Hurt that this book PD is written by a man who can share a platform with a New Age man. Hurt that my hope and prayer was that the PD Campaign could be used to turn hearts to God, and now I don't know.
I know I went into a bit of a rant, please forgive me.
I'm just a bit heartboken.
_________________
Richard Walker
|
| | 2005/4/22 13:39 | Profile |
|
