I'm not a reader so I've grown very fond of audio books. Right now I'm listening to Forgotten God by Francis Chan. Once I'm done with it...I'll listen to his book Crazy Love.
His writings on the Holy Spirit are a breath of fresh air. Growing up in a denom that emphasized the manifestations of this gift...this is a welcome perspective. I have a hard time with some of the perspectives that have been taught to me growing up. I find a lot of Chans beliefs in the first few chapters have been my own in regards to this sensitive subject. We'll see what else he has to say. One thing I do greatly appreciate is his stance on questioning and testing everything. He brought up a scripture in acts:
Acts 17:11 (New International Version)
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
The Bereans didn't just believe Paul...they searched and studied the scriptures to be sure that Paul's word lined up with the word of God. I think that's something that's lacking these days. Especially in those who grow up in church culture...doesn't matter the denomination. We don't question and we don't test...we just believe it because someone fed it to us as a little kid. Maybe because we're afraid for whatever reason to question what we believe. Maybe we fear that means we don't have faith. I think it takes faith to question. I think it's good to test and search for truth in the word. I think it's important that we don't just let people spoon feed us stuff and take it as gospel. Men and women are fallible...Christian or not. It's possible and noted in many sermons that I've heard that opinion gets pushed as absolute truth. It's important that we not be lazy in seeking the truth. We have a responsibility and we are personally accountable to seek the truth and to know to the best of our ability what that is. So much false doctrine has crept into our fellowship because we simply except what "seems" right. It just takes a simple twisting or perversion of the truth to get our focus off what is important. We argue and stand on petty soap boxes about things that really don't matter in the kingdom...which is ironic...because I'm sort of standing on one right now. :) I want to know Christ. I want more of Him. I want to go deeper. I don't want to be the same tomorrow as I am today. I want to grow up. I want to be disciplined. I want to know the truth. I want my life to be yielded to the Holy Spirit. Without Him...I'm nothing. With Him...I know that the potential God has placed in my life is possible. It is unattainable without His spirit. I can work and do everything I know to do to be "good" or "righteous", to achieve my idea of it. It is impossible until I understand that I can't be something I'm not (thanks Pastor Todd) and only He can accomplish it through me. It's not a work...that I should boast in it. I can be transformed by having faith that God will do this work in me through His Holy Spirit.
