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Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Click here for a link to YouTube vid to “Wake Up” with lyrics posted

Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. (AudioBook) By Kevin DeYoung

From the Publisher:

Hyper-spiritual approaches to finding God’s will don’t work. It’s time to try something new: Give up.

Pastor and author Kevin DeYoung counsels Christians to settle down, make choices, and do the hard work of seeing those choices through. Too often, he writes, God’s people tinker around with churches, jobs, and relationships, worrying that they haven’t found God’s perfect will for their lives. Or—even worse—they do absolutely nothing, stuck in a frustrated state of paralyzed indecision, waiting . . . waiting…waiting for clear, direct, unmistakable direction.

But God doesn’t need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road. He’s already revealed his plan for our lives: to love him with our whole hearts, to obey His Word, and after that, to do what we like.

No need for hocus-pocus. No reason to be directionally challenged. Just do something.

I had to really pay attention to this book. I’m not sure that I come down on the same side of the fence entirely as Kevin DeYoung does. I understand where he is trying to drive his point, but I think he pushes too hard. This book is about the search for finding God’s will for a person’s life and I got the impression that (at first glance) DeYoung thinks that can be a bit over-the-top. He states there is only one will of God and that is to love Him and people…everything else is up to us; “Just do something, because God doesn’t really care.” That is what he says. I don’t think that is what he means; like I said, I had to really “listen” (this was a complimentary copy of the audiobook through christianaudio’s reviewer program).

Coming from a somewhat charismatic background myself, I can understand the position that DeYoung desires to balance, but as stated, his corrective measures overshadow that God does have a plan and will for people. Consider the prophet Jeremiah, consider the life of King David, consider Joseph’s words to his brothers when he revealed himself to them in Egypt, consider the life of John the Baptist, consider the plan and path of the Cross of Christ. All of these indicate that God does have a “perfect will.” These examples do not mean that we can work outside of God’s plan and he still not affect His will. We can see examples of this in the life of Abraham with the births of Ishmael and Isaac, or the words of Mordecai to Esther…and then in the life of Hezekiah…and on and on.

I think that Kevin DeYoung would recognize all of these examples, and might even state with a little more sensitivity and generosity, his position on God’s will. I think, listening between the lines, he as much as  stated his agreement with those examples…but the book itself did not seem very generous. In my opinion the position stated in the book was rather narrow and condescending at times. I will recommend it because he made some very good points and the abrasiveness of his position might be what some people need to hear in order to push beyond their fears; however, I do think that it could  have been better written and better presented.

Installment #7 was my assignment for this weekend’s worship services. My title for this message was “Preventative Maintenance: Creating and Maintaining a Healthy Biblical Community.” As is my custom, I have included the manuscript, sermon outline, and small group discussion questions along with the audio file. I am always interested in constructive critique and feedback.

download manuscript (.pdf file)

download outline and sm.grp. discussion (.pdf file)

2010FEB14 ChristianJourney 7jb by valleychapel

Love it…!!!

The Big Red Tractor from Jacob Lewis on Vimeo.

Incredibly powerful stuff. I stumbled across it in my own web surfing. I think credits go to the WillowCreek Leadership Summit.

Angels: Who They Are and How They Help… What the Bible Reveals by Dr. David Jeremiah

I really appreciate the Turning Point radio broadcast of Dr. David Jeremiah. I heard one of the greatest series on the life and legacy of King David that I have ever heard or read from him. It was with curious anticipation that I volunteered to review one of his latest publications, Angels: Who They Are and How They Help…What the Bible Reveals. I think the book is well written and I think Dr. Jeremiah is exhaustively thorough in his references to Scripture. I’m not equally convinced of the thoroughness of his source notes; they are not very exhaustive at all. This is not to say the book requires multiple source material and bibliography to be “good,” but the interpretation of a topic such as “Angels” can easily be the subject of conjecture and/or personal bias. Did I say that I deeply respect and admire Dr. Jeremiah?

I tried really hard to get into this book, but I bogged down over and over…and over and over. I think, in fairness, it has more to do with me than the book or the subject matter. I really had a tough time getting to the relevance of the book. I understand there has been much interest (renewed interest) in the conversation about angels; Dr. Jeremiah mentions this as well in the first chapter of this book citing movies, books, and TV series to illustrate his point. Still, it just didn’t piqué my interest the way I thought it might.

Some of the cons I had began around chapter four. There were several interpretations given that I’m not convinced of. There were no other citations or references given that would lead me to search for substantiation of the Dr.’s claims. I’m not saying I think he’s wrong, but equating the core function of angels as messengers seems lacking. Technically, as a convert of Christ, I am a messenger. Messenger of God is not my core function. Maybe I’m wrong though… I questioned the timeline of creation that was inferred as well. If the Bible doesn’t say, I am pretty free to say; “we don’t know that.” I don’t appreciate inferences that assume a Young Earth theology or otherwise… The discrepancy in theories tells us the truth that we simply do not have all the answers. Angels and the “back-story of God” fall into the category of not having all the answers. I’m not trying to paint this book as proselytizing a certain perspective or viewpoint; I don’t think that is the case at all, but I started to get very bored with it because of my own filters.

From the second half of the book to the end my mind wandered; I kept thinking, “Why are we so fascinated with this subject?” I agree there is good information here and much of it I have accepted as true, but I wonder how much of this information and knowledge is helpful to us in pursuing the Mission of God? I’m sure in some other chapter of my life, I would probably be more favorable toward this book, but for now it just isn’t working for me. It’s well written and has lots and lots of Scripture references. I’m in agreement with a lot of the points made in it, but there are more important elements and instructions from the Bible that I’m going to put my effort and energy into.

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This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Summary:

What are angels? What is their role in God’s plan? Are they present? Do they appear? Do they give us personal insight about our work, our worship?

Many contemporary beliefs about angels are based on misconception and myth. Dr. David Jeremiah uses scripture to unveil the remarkable truth about these agents of heaven, and their role and work in our world—and lives. Read the rest of this entry »

Audiobook: provided for review from www.christianaudio.com

A Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper

I was recently invited to join the Christianaudio.com reviewer’s program. I was delighted to join them as I have been listening to their audiobooks for over a year now. One of the first titles offered for review (to me) was A Sweet & Bitter Providence by John Piper.  This volume is narrated by Grover Gardner, who must narrate on a regular basis, I recognized him from the spiritual theology series by Eugene Peterson that I listened to last spring among other titles as well. Speaking of the narration, Gardner is rapidly becoming to me as Morgan Freeman is becoming the next James Earl Jones for the Madison Avenue crowd. Grover Gardner’s voice is very easy to listen to and he is very capable of reading the written story in an audible form that invites you into the story…very conversational and engaging.

The work itself, A Sweet & Bitter Providence, is a wonderful story from the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament Scriptures. I enjoyed the exegetical and expository style of writing from Dr. Piper as he shared his insight to this great teaching about the character and providence of God. As “providence” would have it, I happened to have just finished reading the Genesis story of Joseph and was three-quarters finished with the story of Job at the time of my listening to A Sweet & Bitter Providence. These three great Bible stories together complimented one another in a beautiful way and helped me to solidify what John Piper was trying to get across to his audience.

From a technical standpoint, I appreciate the context of the MP3 files (my preferred medium). They are clearly titled and tagged for my audio player (iPod). This is important to me for filing and categorizing on my player as well as being able to have logical starting and stopping points for the chapters.

Personally, I recommend audiobooks for people who have super busy lifestyles, spend a lot of time over the road in travel, or folks who might be looking for a change from the written word. I enjoy the break in my routine and find this to be an excellent way to continue on the path of my education and make the most use of my time; I also listen to the books while dong my workouts at the gym. Thank you to Christianaudio.com for very affordable titles and a rapidly growing selection.

Summary:

Sex. Race. Scripture. Sovereignty. Read the rest of this entry »

Tea with Hezbolla: Sitting at the Enemies’ Table; Our Journey Through the Middle East was received by me a few weeks ago as a review project. Unfortunately, I have been unable to complete the assignment within the time constraints. I am greatly interested in the book and the subject matter that it considers (which is why I agreed to review it in the first place). I do plan to read and interact on this blog about it in the future, but I wanted to be faithful to my original commitment to provide the review as well. My solution came in the form of my youngest son, Joshua, who is an avid reader and a fan of Ted Dekker. Josh has reviewed several books on the icrucified blog and it was my pleasure to ask him to “help out his dear old dad” on this occasion. So, without further ado, here is Joshua’s review.

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Tea With Hezbolla by Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis [a review by Joshua Borden]

I have read Ted Dekker before, my favorite being The Circle Trilogy.  When I started Tea with Hezbollah I went into it with the mindset that it was probably going to be like that… It was anything but.  To begin, Tea with Hezbollah is an actual recounting of Ted Dekker’s and Carl Medearis’ journey through the Middle East as they talked to the top ideologues and leaders of the various militant and Muslim factions.  Their main reason was to see if Jesus’ famous teaching about loving your enemy was really possible and to see what Middle Easterner’s thought about it.  They were also looking for a modern day “Good Samaritan.”

I admit that I started the book with the preconceived notions of a naïve 14 year old about the Middle East and the various military factions.  Throughout the book both I and Ted went through a very thorough change of mindset.  The authors gave the reader the actual transcripts from conversations of what people said to them, from the common taxi driver to the Bin Laden brothers.  They met with people that we as Americans believe are only out to kill us and our Israeli allies, while in reality the Middle Easterners only pick up arms when it is necessary.  Many of them are just common everyday people who want to make a difference and fight for their right to have their country back and Israel removed.  We, as Americans, don’t see all the pain and suffering that the Palestinians are forced to endure on a regular basis, never knowing whether or not they’ll be alive the next day.  Being a “Christian” in the Middle East is more of a political affiliation than anything, especially seeing how the “Christians” do just as much damage and killing as anyone else. The leaders of the Hezbollah, whom many would call terrorists out to kill and maim as many as possible, are quite possibly one of the most humane groups in the Middle East.  Their primary intent and purpose is to help and provide services to the people in Lebanon, and to provide security and as much peace of mind as is possible in the Middle East.  If you felt that some entity or country was trying to takeover and ignore your rights, wouldn’t you resist them in any way you could when they came?  Insights like this and many more into the truth of the Middle East really changed how I think about the whole situation.

This book was great and I hope it will change your preconceptions as much as it did mine.  It makes very hard ideas a little easier to swallow. My notions and ideas were changed by the time I finished this book and it happened without me even realizing it until I had finished and was writing this review. Tea with Hezbollah takes you on a journey that I hope will allow you to love your enemies in your own life.

Tea with Hezbolla is a book provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. Read the rest of this entry »

Installment #4 was my assignment for this weekend’s worship services. My title for this message was “Rules of the Road: God’s Way of Loving Ourselves and Loving Others.” As is my custom, I have included the manuscript, sermon outline, and small group discussion questions along with the audio file. I am always interested in constructive critique and feedback.

download manuscript (.pdf file)

download outline and sm.grp. discussion (.pdf file)

2010JAN24 ChristianJourney 4jb by valleychapel

I received a copy of the Voice New Testament from Thomas Nelson for review. I’m not sure if I like it or not. My first impressions are a mixed bag; there are definitely some things that I like, but there are also things that I do not like. Let me explain my reasons…

It goes without saying this is a personal review and my opinion only; however, I’m a bit of a translation junkie when it comes to Bibles and the Greatest Story Ever Told. I love reading different translations and versions…always excited to read a “fresh” retelling of the Story. I’m always a little bit leery when the story seems “too fresh.” While I haven’t gone cover-to-cover in the Voice New Testament, it seems there are some portions that are, in my opinion, too fresh. By this I mean, there might be some biased interpretation, or so it seems by the way the reader is led through interpretive “call out” boxes and italicized statements placed in the text for inference. This isn’t necessarily wrong or bad, but I don’t particularly care for it (personally). I find that it can be misleading when trying to accurately understand the text; not always, but sometimes. In fairness to the Voice, I feel the same way about most study Bibles. Also, with respect to the translation team, they do qualify the nature of the italicized statements and the call-out boxes and instruct the reader these elements are not in the original texts.

I appreciate the “spirit” behind the translation. I also respect the teams that have put in work to make the translation. I enjoy the flow and screenplay format of the reading; I found it to be very fluid and easy to follow…definitely as though I were reading a story rather than a verse by verse recounting. There were no repetitious stumbling through the verses, chapters, and books; this made the reading easy and pleasant too. I do think a chronological approach to this work might be something I’d enjoy more than the present version.

I want to spend more time with the Voice, but my recommendations for now are as follows: I recommend it with a few caveats. I don’t think it should be a primary study Bible; I don’t care for the liberties taken that I observe when I place the Voice alongside versions like the ESV, NSRV, and even NIV, and NLT. I think it would serve very well as a devotional-supplemental reader (once again, the authors and publishers call this a “personal devotional Bible”) as it is titled in point-of-sale material. I’m up in the air as to whether I’d recommend it for curious seekers or not. I’d probably be more inclined to determine that on a case by case basis. I think if it did not have the call-outs and italicized inferences I might be more open to those recommendations…especially when I consider other dynamic translations and paraphrased Bibles that would serve this same purpose without leading interpretation.

All in all, I plan to spend more time with it, do additional side-by-side comparisons with other Bible translations and checking some of the “call-outs” and italicized inferences with my study Bibles and commentaries. I will update my review at a later date when I have had the opportunity to be more thorough. In the interim, try it, you may enjoy it. Mine is just one opinion, and even with my points of contention, there are many things that I still like.