Philip Yancey travels the globe in search of an answer to a query posed the world over. It's a universal question, one that ' occurs in some form to every person who experiences pain or death or poverty or unfairness- in other words, to everyone. ' What good is God in a world where terrorist attack tourists site, where a gunman kills 32 student, where 6 million people in South Africa alone suffer with HIV/AIDS. Or on a more personal level, does faith really matter when you're struggling with addiction, when you get laid off or when chronic depression sits in.
This book is divided in 10 sections where each section comprises of two parts, the context and preparation and the actual speech itself.
1.Virginia tech: Campus Massacre
2. China: Winds of Change
3. Green Lake: Professional Sex Workers
- At the Low, You cry for Help
- Grace like water, flows downwards
- we are all trophies of grace, Jesus came for the sick.
- Apostle to the skeptic- all joy emphasizes our pilgrim status, always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings. pain keeps us from viewing this present earth as a final home. I find in Lewis something rarely seen in either secular or sacred society: a delicate balcance of embracing the world while not idolizing it.
- Straddling two worlds
- Bubble world- bible college is like bubble world, intentionally different and separate from everybody else.
- I wish I'd Known
- I wish I'd known how to appreciate two worlds at once. Both material and spiritual.
- I wish I'd known how to nurture the inner life. Rules may present a temptation to rely on external behaviour rather than cultivating the inner life. Do rules nourish the inner life or whitewash outward appearances.
- I wish I'd known more humility. To appreciate other traditions of faith. Living a victorious life- we dare not lower the ideal, yet neither should we present the ideal as the norm. D.L. Moody asked whether he was filled with the Spirit, replied, Yes. But I leak.
- I wish I'd known grace here. God is not unjust insists the author of the book of Hebrews in a radical understatement of grace. Be the recipient of scandalous grace. Not only believe in God but also know deep in your soul that God believes in you.
- The unlikeliest lot
- Growing in Grace
- What begins with a burst of excitement often settles into familiarity and ends in disappointment
- 3 stage of maturity, child adult parent
- parent. the final stage of faith orients us to the world around us. Love your neighbour as yourself. inbuilt desires to love, to communicate and even to perpetuate ourselves in another person. LIke our creator GOd, we want to share life in full knowledge of the sacrifices involved. Change would need the concerted efforf of al of you who accept Jesus' call to find your lives by giving them away, in the process scattering seeds. That's how the kingdom of God advances,: seed by see
- Out of Ashes: 2008 Great Financial Crisis, First black president Voted.
- Upon This Rock
- Jesus' shortest parable. The wise men built his house upon the rock.
- what are building our houses upon?
- Don't ignore the seemingly small idealistic message of the sermon of the mount.
- How to pray in times of such crisis- Help! don't edit your prayers, meditation and reflection, asking God's help to take my eyes off my own problems in order to look with compassion on the truly desperate.
- A time of deep crisis presents an opening for Christians to convey our contrarian mesage by exposing the lies of the big screen.
- we can insist that a persn's worth is not determined by his appearance or income, or by ethnic background or even citizenship status but rather a gift from God. And that compassion and justice are not arbirary values but holy and practical commands from Jesus.
- we need to see ourselves as stewards of a planet, as servents of a God of love and also justice. If we do so, no matter what happens, our house will stand.
- Sand Dunes and Sky Scrapers
- it seemed strange that the Christian faith meets such resistance in the very area which gave it birth. In other ways, it resembled the scene some two millennial ago where the new movement faced hostility from both Jewish and Roman authorities.What words of encouragement could I bring to Christians who feel so beleaguered and discouraged.
- Streams in the Dessert
- Rene Girard, A french Philosopher and anthropologist became fascinated with the fact that in modern times a " marginalised" person assumes a moral authority. This trend mystified him because in his readings of ancient literature, victors not the marginalised wrote history. He managed to trace the phenomenon back to the historical figure of Jesus. It struck him that Jesus' story cuts against every grain of every heroic story from its time. His crucifixion, Girald concluded, introduced a new plot to history: the victim becomes a hero by being a victim- the most sweeping historical revolution int he world, the emergence of an empathy for victims. Those of you who work and pray in this hostile part of the world may sometimes feel as if you do nothing but move rocks or dig furrows. Maybe so. God alone controls the harvest. Our calling is to make known the spirit of Jesus and to join the stream of liberation that broke free two thousand years ago
- The Comedy and the Tragedy
- ' I asked Geroge why most of his friends in A.A. avoid church. He told me about people who have experienced failures. " when I invite friends, they feel uncomfortable in church. They feel like misfits. Church people are so together, they think. Our lives are a mess. We'd rather sit in our blue jeans and T-shirts and smoke cigarettes or drink coffee and be totally honest with each other.'
- Why I wish I was an Alcoholic
- 12 steps of A.A first recognises a need for God. we all have our own addictions. Religion is for people who believe in Hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there. ' But for the very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.' Addicts not only teach me the nature and consequences of sin, they also demonstrate our permanent need for grace. Spiritual progress not perfection, There but for the grace of God I go. God wants to alter our first thoughts so that they reflect our true state, as God's forgiven, beloved children.we best realise our freedom through dependence.
What unites alcoholics, what makes it possible for one alcoholic to learn from another, is that the foundation that they share is not a strength but a weakness; each knows what he or she cannot do. The church needs that reminder for the apostle Paul spoke of his own weakness more than three dozen times. Christian leaders may publicly apologize after some major transgression, but how many openly discuss their doubts, their mistaken predictions, their biases and exaggerations. You remind us of the danger posed by the small but nagging temptations, the careless cover ups and prevarications. Like icy spots on a mountain trail, they slick the way to a disastrous fall. I have a hunch that if the watching world saw the church as a place that welcomes broken people for healing, it would have a greater impact than all our sophisticated outreach programs.
' I realise that for the rest of my life, I can go to A.A. meetings and nobody will ask me Arent you finished with all these talk about your alcoholism? They will just say ' keep coming back- glad you could make it.' may the church learn
- Tour Interrupted- terrorists from pakistan landed in downtown Mumbai and attacked ten different sites, including the main train station, several tourist hotels, a hospital, a cafe, a cinema, a college and a Jewish community center. instead of the planned meeting , they decided to hold an impromptu meeting in a local church.. faith must matter at such a time of crisis.. and he speaks on Grace.
- Grace under Fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment