Unleashed by Erwin Raphael McManus

If you (the possible reader of this book) are content with a completely peaceful, pacifistic, indifferent Christianity, this book is not for you.  Erwin McManus’s Unleashed is a warrior-call to all Christians to go out and do something for Christ, and not sit around and simply discuss theology.  In this book, McManus challenges the church to wake up from complacency and take the world head on because: “…the call of Jesus is one of action.”

I have always respected McManus as a teacher and author, so I will admit that I came in with a biased opinion that it was going to be good; this book blew away my expectations.  His mixture of life experiences with principles based in Biblical truth create a work that is compelling and seems urgent which the call of Christ really is.  From the very beginning when McManus shares the anecdote about visiting Scotland on the way to Northern Ireland just so that he can see the boyhood spot of William Wallace and then connects it to the quote, “Forward, for the heart of your king!” I was hooked.  McManus makes implicitly clear that anyone who follows Christ is not doing it to the fullest if he or she is not doing it with passion.  Anyone who feels like their walk has become too predictable and routine-laden should pick up this book and prepare to do battle the barbarian way.

Age of Accountability.

Does anyone know where I can go to find information on when the Church began to teach this?  I've heard pastors reference it, I've read the Scriptures that justify the position, but I've not been able to see anywhere in the Bible where it specifically states anything of the nature and I want to read more on the issue.

Sunday is a day of rest because Saturday wasn't.

I'm just going to throw it out there: I saw God divinely answer prayer yesterday.  Beat that.  I saw a girl meningitis cleared up and an abcess become much smaller.  Seriously; beat that.

Soot and Silence. Part II.

"These are the nations that God left there, using them to test the Israelites who had no experience in the Canaanite wars. He did it to train the descendants of Israel, the ones who had no battle experience, in the art of war. "  -Judges 3:1-2, The Message

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to preach a sermon on Sunday morning entitled: "Soot and Silence."  Using Job as an example, the point of the sermon was that when it seems like God is silent is when He's actually the most active in our problems and situations.  And that many times when we get Him frustrated to the point of actually responding, His response won't quite make total sense because He's looking from a perspective of the complete picture while we only see the present moment.

I was reading my Bible this morning and these verses above really stuck out at me.  Nowhere does God actually address the Israelites and tell them that they are being put into these uncomfortable circumstances for the purpose of growth; the author had the hindsight to be able to state this.  I've been thinking about my own life lately and why certain things have been happening.  I need to be honest; a lot of times, I just don't get it.  There are many people in our church have been going through even rougher times of trial then me and I am pretty sure they're in the same boat as me though. 

Is there a lesson that God feels everyone of us needs to learn together?  Are they different lessons?  All I know for sure is that Genesis, Exodus, Judges, and Job all show pretty good examples of people who went through some pretty tough stuff and didn't understand why they were experiencing it, yet those life lessons came back to make sense either to them or later generations.  In the meantime, Galatians 6:2 says that we should: "share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ."  We're all in this together so let's do our best to be there for each other in their times of need.