Speaking Truth In Love Review

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Speaking Truth In Love ReviewSpeaking Truth In Love is the lastest book by David Powlison, a faculty member at Westminister Theological Seminary and The Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation. In his own words, it is, "a book on how we are to live together." Although primarily directed at pastors and counselors, there is much here to be savored by every child of God. Indeed, an emphasis of the book is that speaking truth in love, wisdom, and grace into another person's life is both the privilege and responsibility for every Christian, not just the "professionals" or the "trained."
There are seventeen chapters, which are really separate essays all looking at differing facets of counseling, or "loving another person well" as Powlison puts it.
Chapter 1 is an extended reflection of Psalm 119, beautifully portraying it as the cry of a faithful heart toward God. It is worth the price of the book for anyone struggling through a trial or helping another.
Chapter 2 talks about the need to face the truth of our rebellious flesh, while chapter 3 talks of hearing the music of the gospel. Chapter 4-8 deal with various practical steps of preparation, listening, and questioning, while chapter 9 specifically deals with gently handling people who have already been immersed in the false psychologies of the world.
Chapter 10 starts looking at a more global emphasis, challenging pastors (and all) to consider that most of the "ministry of the Word" that Christ actually did was what we would now term private and small-group counseling, and not preaching sermons. Chapter 11 looks at how counseling should fit into the ministry of the church, and chapter 12 looks specifically at how the nature of prayer fits into counseling in the church.
The last chapters look at pastoral counseling, women in counseling, when to refer, where to train, and lastly a guiding doctrinal statement for Biblical counseling.
This is a rewarding book written by a wise servant of God, giving insight and direction on both the nature and the challenges the church faces in fulfilling our mandate on speaking truth in love to each other.
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Relationships: A Mess Worth Making Review

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Relationships: A Mess Worth Making ReviewLast week I finished this new book from Resources for Changing Lives-Relationships: A Mess Worth Making. Tim Lane, together with Paul Tripp (author of one of my favorite books, War of Words) tackle the deeper issues involved in relationships in the lives of believers.
Written with a gentle, we're-right-there-with-you tone but also grounded in the authority of Scripture this proved to be a helpful read considering my relationships and the specific ways I need to embrace the power and sufficiency of God's grace to redeem, restore and deepen the quality and purpose of relationships in my own life.
The structure of the book is a little awkward because even though it has two authors they write as one. I was somewhat distracted by this especially when they would tell a personal illustration but not say who's story it was. I was surprised that at the beginning of each chapter they had a lengthy excerpt form a secular song. And I was concerned at the couple of quotes they positively sited from Donald Miller of the Emergent Church movement. The one other hang-up I had was due to the multiple Scripture references quoted from The Message translation.
Overall this was a beneficial read. Perhaps a better book addressing the heart of godly relationships would be Jerry Bridges book The Crisis of Caring: Recovering the Meaning of True Fellowship. However I would still recommend Relationships: A Mess Worth Making and here are some excerpts from my two favorite chapters:
Chapter 5-Agendas
p. 43
The default question we ought to bring to every area of life should be, "What is God's purpose and design? What was his reason for creating this?" When you apply these questions to relationships you begin to see how different his agenda is from your own. We would easily settle for our own definition of personal happiness when God's purpose is nothing short of conforming us to the image of Christ! Whether we are conscious of it or not, we all have dreams for our relationships, and we are always working to realize those dreams. How close is your dream to God's purpose?
Chapter 9-Forgiveness
p. 95
The metaphor of debt cancellation (Matthew 18:21-35) clearly defines the nature of forgiveness. The merciful king absorbed $100, 000 debt that was owed him. When you forgive someone, you also cancel a debt. But, more specifically, you make a conscious choice to absorb the cost yourself. You choose not to make the offender pay for the offense. By forfeiting....you make at least three promises.You promise that you will not bring up the debt to use it as leverage. You promise that you will not bring up the offense to others and slander the person who sinned against you....You promise not to dwell on the offense yourself.Relationships: A Mess Worth Making Overview

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Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God Review

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Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God ReviewThis book is the God-send that an entire generation needs to read, and I say that with no exaggeration. Americans deal with the midlife dilemma in such a superficial way. We think that if we can laugh at ourselves, joke about our circumstances (and maybe undergo a little cosmetic surgery or buy a sports car), then we'll get through it okay. That's just about the only approach to the midlife crisis I've come across, anyway.
But Paul Tripp isn't interested in palliatives. As always, he wants to get to the heart of things. Or, more accurately, he wants us to see that God gets to the heart of things, using the indignities of aging, the accumulated load of life's regrets, the rising fear of life's end, to wrest our attention away from this empty material world. It is quite simply life-changing to view midlife from this perspective.
This book, with its emphasis on the grace of God, is so life-affirming, so filled with words of hope, that you'll never again look in the mirror with such despair. And it's only in midlife that we are ready to hear this message; in our youth the word mortality is hardly even an entry in our inner dictionary. Read this book, and then read it again. Don't go on to the next new, new thing on the Christian bookshelf. This is too important. Thank you, Dr. Tripp. May God continue to richly bless you.Lost in the Middle: Midlife and the Grace of God Overview

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What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage Review

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What Did You Expect: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage Review
My wife and I were able to sit through a recent marriage conference by Paul Tripp on Redeeming the Realities of Marriage. If you can go to one of his conferences, it is a great opportunity to enjoy a weekend together and talk through some of the areas that present growth opportunities in marriage.
Attending the live event is beneficial, but Tripp's book What Did You Expect: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage is based on the material from the conference. Tripp begins by examining the "essential wisdom perspectives that Scripture gives us for a realistic expectation of marriage": 1) you are conducting your marriage in a fallen world; 2) you are a sinner married to a sinner; 3) God is faithful, powerful, and willing. Tripp then examines the centrality of worship in all of life and the importance of it in a proper understanding of marriage. We should especially view our marriage in light of the Kingdom of God because we are tempted to be about the process of building our own kingdoms in our life and our marriage. Our marriages will find healing as we align our lives with God's Kingdom.
After explaining the importance of seeing your marriage in light of the Kingdom of God, Tripp structures the book by explaining six commitments that will encourage a lifestyle for a healthy and strong marriage:
1. We will give ourselves to a regular lifestyle of confession and forgiveness.
2. We will make growth and change our daily agenda.
3. We will work together to build a sturdy bond of trust.
4. We will commit to building a relationship of love.
5. We will deal with our differences with appreciation and grace.
6. We will work to protect our marriage.
Each commitment has 2-3 chapters that explains the particular commitment and places it in light of the big picture of the book.
If you have read some of Tripp's other books (such as Instruments in the Hands of the Redeemer or War of Words), you will recognize some of the material. Tripp is applying the aspect of heart change and the gospel of grace to the area of marriage, but even if you have read the other works, this particular study on marriage is important. It would be wise to use this material not only for current marital growth, but also pre-marital counseling as we attempt to prepare couples for the realities of marriage.What Did You Expect: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage Overview

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