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Archive for the ‘failure’ Category

Book Review: Detours by Tony Evans

Posted in Bible Study, Book review, Choices, Daily Life, Discipleship, Discipline, failure, guidance, Life Balance, obedience, Spiritual Maturity, The Christian Life, tagged , , , , , , , on April 7, 2017|

Wouldn’t life be great if we started at point A and moved to point B in a straight line?  Well, as this book makes apparent, no it wouldn’t.  The path to our destiny requires detours to help us mature, strengthen and develop into the person who can handle the destiny when it’s reached.

In his typical way, Tony Evans has written a book that relates to anyone who picks it up and opens to page one. “Detours are a good thing that often feels bad.”

Using the life of Joseph as the thread that carries out the theme, this book clearly opens the door to seeing the turns and roadblocks in life as vital parts of God’s plan for us to realize the very specific, very unique destiny that is ours from the day He blew breath into our lungs.

In his book, the author defines destiny as “the customized life calling for which God has equipped and ordained us, in order to bring Him the greatest glory and the maximum expansion of His kingdom.”  He goes on to explain how God will use the good, the bad and the bitter to get us there.

I’m a highlighter and this book tested the ink in my pink pen! Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“Your destiny is not just to go through the motions day-in and day-out. It is a God-designed stamp on your soul that involves the use of your time, talents, and treasures for His glory and other people’s good for the advancement of His kingdom.”

“…in order to arrive at an authentic hope in your spirit, accepting your detours is necessary.”

“God creates detours in order to perform some construction on the pathways of our soul. ….. And depending on how we respond to our detours, we may need to be roadblocked several times before we reach where we are supposed to go.”

And my very favorite:  “When you fill a sponge full of water and then you add pressure to the sponge, water is going to flow out because it is full of water. When you are going through a trial and you feel the pressure of life caving in around you, how much of God comes out?”

And these are from just the first 50 pages!  I could go on and on. But you’d be better off running to the store and grabbing this book off the shelf. Because you are going to want to get to this one:  “Friend, if you ever get providence – the subset of sovereignty – understood, you will begin to view all of life differently. You will begin to rest when you used to fret. You will begin to breathe easily when you used to worry. You will begin to give thanks when you used to be filled with bitterness or regret. To fully live out the victorious Christian life and experience the abundance Jesus Christ died to provide, you must live and look at the events of your life through the lens of providence.”

You will find Detours by Tony Evans an easy, rewarding read filled with great perspective and profound revelation in how God uses the detours in the road to our destiny.

I received this book at no charge so that I would provide an honest review. I would very highly recommend this book to anyone whose path in life has and is filled with curves and roadblocks.

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Book Review – Churchfails

Posted in Book review, Conflict, Discipleship, failure, Foolishness, guidance, salvation, Spiritual Maturity, The Christian Life, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on July 7, 2016| Leave a Comment »

51m3BdLgQJL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_[1]Just finished reading Churchfails – 100 Blunders in Church History (& what we can learn from them), David Stabnow, General Editor. This book was provided to me through B&H Bloggers for the purpose of this review. The thoughts and opinions are purely my own. I am not a dedicated history buff and this is not my general choice of reading material. But I thoroughly enjoyed every page.

What a fun and informative book. Written in a most palliative and quick read style, and certainly anything but dry. The churchfails outlined begin as early as 35 AD and continue through to modern times outlining how seemingly intelligent and sane people twist theology and wander off in surprisingly ridiculous tangents.

Each short article gives a one or two line synopsis, a biography of the offshoot leader, defines the main theme of the churchfail, and then gives application for today.  Humor is incorporated in a way that makes us laugh not just at the wrong thinking of the leader but at ourselves and how easily we are led down the meandering path, away from solid theology if we aren’t careful.

Some of my favorites:

Marcion of Sinope who rejected all of the Old Testament and most of the New Testament, keeping only what supported his beliefs. He was the first to bring together certain Christian books and call them the writings of the church. Unfortunately, he selected only portions he agreed with and eliminated anything he didn’t like. As a result he was excommunicated, branded as a heretic and Marcionism died out.  The application for today: many modern day churches do the same – pick and choose what they want from the Bible and ignore the rest. The author points out that “no book, no miracle, and no nation should be left out of our message; the whole plan of God should be preached (Acts 20:27).”

Hippolytus of Rome who “never met a pope he didn’t agree with” and who also became the first in history to work out the exact date of Christ’s return. He met five popes in his lifetime and had issues with each which he was quick to verbalize. The application for today is the warning to avoid being known only for what you disagree with. And of course, for attempting to do what the Bible says is impossible – predict the exact day of the second coming.

Matthew Caffyn who was highly intelligent and decided if his brilliant mind couldn’t fully comprehend such things as how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit could be one and the same then it must not be true. He disregarded the biblical teaching of centuries and came to the conclusion that he was wiser than the scholars before him. As the writer points out in the application for today, even Solomon, who was considered the wisest man on earth, had 700 wives and 300 concubines! How smart was that when with those wives came 700 mother-in-laws! In the case of Caffyn we are reminded “haughty arrogance regarding ones own abilities leads to one’s downfall.”

Throughout the book we are reminded how foolish it is to veer from scripture and assume we have a new answer or a new theology. There’s a reason the Gospel of Christ has endured – it is true and pure and life giving.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants glimpses into the history of churchfails and a few laughs along the way.

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