a new kind of rebellion LOVE RIOT by Sara Barratt

Sara Barratt has written an interesting book calling teens into a relationship with Jesus that goes a lot farther than Sunday morning worship and midweek youth group pizza parties. Love Riot: A Teenage Call to Live with Relentless Abandon for Christ (BakerBooks, 2020) is geared towards those who know there is something missing in those safe and comfortable church gatherings that so many of us has come to know and love, precisely because they are so safe and comfortable.

Interestingly enough, during this time of protests and riots across the country, the blurb on the back cover starts with “It’s time for a revolution, a holy uprising, a love riot.”  As cities are going up in flames, stores being destroyed and looters making off with anything they can find that might be of value, words like revolution, uprising and riot are hardly the most comforting ones I can think of; but digging into the book gave me pause to think that these are actually, in the context of Barratt’s book, words of hope. If the current generation can accept this call, and bring about the kind of rebellion that Barratt is calling for, they would be no need for the kind of riots, rebellions, protests, and uprising that are currently making the news every night.

When we accept Jesus wholeheartedly and live as His disciples and followers, things change. Whichever generation changes the mindset of the culture, will change the world. 

They will truly be praying “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. When we truly pray that line, we’re telling God that we want to be a part of bringing about that heavenly kingdom, and asking Him to use us to make it happen sooner rather than later.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review. I was not required to post a positive review, just an honest expression of my thoughts about the book.

4/5

New life in Christ

About 2000 years ago, Jesus told Nicodemus, a ‘Teacher of Israel’ that he needed to be born again, and he had questions about what that meant.  So where does that leave us today? We have many of the same questions, but we can’t ask Jesus directly what he meant.

                It certainly isn’t an easy question, and the answers aren’t always that clear, but because we told that we must be born again to enter the God's Kingdom, we have questions and we seek answers.  Steven J. Lawson has gone to considerable effort to try to give scripturally sound answers to that age old question.  I had questions before, and even after reading New Life in Christ: What Really Happens When you’re Born Again and Why it Matters (Baker Books, 2020) I still doubt that I could clearly express myself if put on the spot to answer the question of what it means to be born again.

Having said that, I have a better understanding, but still not enough to thoroughly explain it to someone else. But then, other than Jesus, I doubt if anyone can truly explain it.  But Lawson does a good job of hitting the major points.

This book is an interesting read for anyone who is really interested in going deeper into the subject matter, but if you’re looking for an ‘easy read’, you might want to look elsewhere.  If I were still active in pastoral ministry, I might use this book as a starting point for a sermon series, .

I received a copy of this book as a member of a bloggers’ group. I was not required to post a positive review.

4/5

Talking with Your Kids about Jesus: Great conversations starters

As parents, we have choices. We can choose to teach our kids the things that we want them to know, the things that align with our core values, or we can abdicate that responsibility and leave it up to the public school system, their friends on the playground, social media and the mainstream media, or ‘the world’ to have a major say in what they learn and adopt as their core values.  We have a choice: we help influence what will become their worldview, or we let the world play a major role in their decision making processes.

                And like it or not, their view of God and Jesus is going to be included. So the title of Natasha Crain’s book Talking with Your Kids about Jesus: 30 Conversations Every Christian Parent Must Have (Baker Books, 2020) struck a chord.

This book contains 30 short chapters with discussion questions, and prompts for open discussions with your kids about Jesus. Who was He? Who is He? What about the miracles? How could He be human and God at the same time? What did He teach about Heaven, Hell, religion and the Kingdom of God?  What is it about His death that has fascinated scholars for 20 centuries?  Why can we believe that the resurrection happened? And what does it all mean? What is it about Jesus that truly makes a difference when it comes to our lives on earth, our lives in the Kingdom, and how does Jesus fit into the story of our salvation?

Although this book is meant to be a guide to help parents talk with their kids about Jesus, it could easily be adapted into a study for new believers, regardless of their age, they have many of these same questions.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher as a member of their bloggers’ program. I was not required to post a positive review.

4/5