The Barbarians Are Coming!

This is a review of Erwin Raphael McManus' book, Unleashed Release the Untamed Faith Within.

Special Thanks to Thomas Nelson Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book. It was a great experience! I've alsoposted my review on the BookSneeze web site and on www.Amazon.com

The dictionary definition of the word "barbarian" is: 1) A member of a people considered by another nation or group to have a primitive civilization; 2)A fierce, brutal or cruel person; 3) An insensitive, uncultured person; a boor (from The American Heritage College Dictionary).

This a great word to describe the Church. (Hopefully definitions 2 & 3 don't come into play but definition 1 certainly describes us. We do play off a different song sheet than the world.....or at least we're supposed to.)

McManus points out that while the Romans thought the Church was barbarian, they eventually tamed the Church. Kind of scary......isn't it?

This book, Unleashed was previously released under the title, "The Barbarian Way.

So what makes us barbaric? McManus answer this question right away. He simply says, "Whenever you choose to live a life of faith, even when it takes you in a world of uncertainty, you have made the barbaric choice." Stepping out in faith is barbaric; living by faith is barbaric.

The author points out that sometimes being barbaric leads into places of danger. It might mean a disruption of life as we know it. It might mean an introduction to eternal life.

There's a great section on John the Baptist and how his barbaric way of life led to a prison. This led to some doubt and a question of whether or not Jesus really was the Messiah. But being a barbarian is not a promise of living happily ever after. John and many others in Scripture, just read through Hebrews 11, discovered that living a life of faith was frought with danger and unpleasant....at least temporarily so....circumstances.

I was highly impacted by the quote, "It's hard to imagine that Jesus would endure the agony of the cross just to keep us in line." Too many folks today think that living their life for God means that they tow the line. Some even think their role in the Church to help keep everyone else in line.

Most of us have been tamed by the idea that if we "build it" they will come.

I was personally challenged by the following words: "there is within you a raw and untamed faith waiting to be unleashed." After reading that, I began to wonder how much encouragement I have been to those I lead in regards to releasing their raw and untamed faith. Or was I part of what tamed them?

Taming folks is easier than dealing with the mess that comes from being raw and untamed. But we weren't called to live easy lives. McManus points out that barbarians weren't called to be adopters but to be innovators. To lead the way and step out where no one else has dared to go.

You will be delighted with the section he writes about the names for different groups of animals. Just as a tease....there are too many parliaments in the Church and not enough crashes........get the book, you'll understand.

One final thought from the book that really challenged me was: "the civilized build shelters andinvite god to stay with them; barbarians move with God wherever He chooses to go." This kind of reminds me of asking God to bless my plans rather than asking God what His plans might be.

I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to you and to those you care about. I will read this book again....and maybe again. It will influence my teaching/preaching and hopefully make me a better.....er more barbaric leader.

A special thanks to Erwin Raphael McManus for being barbaric enough to write this book. May you never be tamed!

Always in Pursuit!

It's kinda been buggin' me.........

Have you ever read something that jumped off the page at you? It was a great thought or it was a great idea but the more you mulled it over the more you wondered if this great thought may have been put there by the Holy Spirit in order to convict you? Please remember, the Holy Spirit is our friend who guides us away from sin and into all truth! He's not out to try and make us miserable. We do that on our own..........just sayin'.

Don't be afraid of these experiences.....but at times, they can kinda bug ya.

A few days ago I was reading through Erwin McManus' book, "Unleashed."

The thought, that jumped off the page at me was, "Jesus didn't endure the cross just to keep us in line." Or perhaps we could say, "Jesus didn't endure the cross just so we could get by." (my paraphrase)

I've added this thought and some expansion of the thought into my sermon for Easter Sunday.

Jesus endured the cross, won the victory of victories for us so we could live life freely, abundantly and victoriously!

And He endured the cross so we could make a difference in our world and to help a boatload of folks be in right relationship with the Father through Jesus and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

What's buggin' me is that I'm wondering if I'm taking full advantage of the life that Jesus won for me on the cross? Or am I just gettin' by?

I gotta do better..........

How about you?

Always in Pursuit!

It's Not About Us.......

Opening day of baseball season found me on the road but trying to listen intently to various radio stations in order to keep up with the events of the day. On my way home, I was able to listen to KMOX out of St. Louis. They are the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals and they had been on the air with their opening day coverage since 5 AM. It was now sometime between 10:30 and 11 PM. And they were to be on with their opening day coverage til midnight. My beloved Cardinals had lost their game and it seemed the announcers were working hard to find things to talk about. But one of the sports new items that they talked about carried what I think is a great lesson for all of us. Due to the nature of the day, this story kind of flew under the radar but I think it was huge. In St. Louis there is a professional hockey team called the St. Louis Blues. They've been around for a long time. Since I'm not much of a hockey fan, I can't tell you how they've done. The news for that day was that management of the team had handed down a two-day suspension to one of their young, up-coming stars. It seems he had missed a team practice for no apparent reason. Maybe he just didn't feel like being there....I don't remember any reasons be talked about. One of the on-air personalities made a comment that really has stuck with me. He said, "This young man needs to learn that no one player is more important than the team." It's all about the team. The young man later apologized and made amends to his team and to the fans of the team. He even donated his earnings from the two days he was suspended to a local charity. Seemingly, he has learned his lesson, only time will tell. I've been thinking about this sports news quit a bit over the past few weeks. I think it's a great lesson for us in the church. It's not about us. It's about Him! It's about the Church, the body of Christ and what's best for the team. Recently I've been teaching from the New Testament book of James and spent some time talking about the identity of the author. Most scholars believe James was the younger, half-brother of Jesus. We don't know when he came to faith but he did. After Jesus' ascension to heaven, James joined the folks in the Upper Room and soon after that it appears he became one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. It appears that James presided over the first Church Council in Acts 15. And Paul refers to him as one of the "pillars of the Church" in the New Testament book of Galatians. I've been caught up in the opening words of James' letter. He identifies himself as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." He could have said, "James the brother of Jesus, the Messiah" or he could have said, "James, the head of the Church in Jerusalem." But he didn't. He identified himself as a servant. He knew none of this was about him. It was about Christ. It was about the Church. He was a servant of both! He was a tool being used to build the team.....the Church. The Psalmist wrote in 115:1, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness." And when Jesus taught his followers to pray in Matthew 6, it was, "your kingdom come"....not my kingdom; and it was "your will be done" not my will be done. Paul wrote in Colossians 1 that Christ was the head of the Church. The only head. It's not a two headed or multi-headed monster. But sometimes it doesn't seem to appear that way, does it? It's not easy putting others first or putting the best interests of the team.....the Church before our own. But it's what servants do. It's what we are called to do. And when we do the right thing, it's always right for us. If we all work together; serving one another; serving Christ; doing our part in the body of Christ, there will be many goals scored.....even a few hat tricks along the way but they all will be for the glory of God, building His team......the Church! Always in Pursuit!