Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Gospel According to Jesus by Chris Seay


Book Review

The Gospel According to Jesus:
A Faith that Restores All Things

My kind of book.

In The Gospel According to Jesus, Chris Seay fearlessly delves into why the church isn’t functioning as it should. The meaning of righteousness has become so clouded many of us can’t even pinpoint the true understanding of the word.

Throughout the book Seay offers hope.

By providing layered, detailed conversations with church leaders Seay highlights beautiful ways we can join together as a church and live out Jesus’s vision for our lives.

I underlined all over my copy of this book. It was hard to choose, but I wanted to give you a taste of what I experienced while reading The Gospel According to Jesus. Here are a few messages that spoke with such command; Morgan Freeman might as well have been dictating them into my ear as I read…

“Is it possible that we have ignored Jesus—our wild, messianic King–and chosen to re-create Jesus in the image of the Pharisees themselves?”

“What does it look like to collaborate with God? It means letting God wrap his heart around your own while letting go of the control of your own heart and binding to his passion. It is allowing yourself to be his pulse on the earth, to be filled with his desire to make things new. It is seeing and presenting his view of the world by reflecting his light into every place. Yes, every place, no matter how dark.”

“We cannot be pupils of Jesus unless we are willing to drop our own desperate attempts to fix ourselves, turn in acceptance and humility, and begin to truly learn, to take instruction.”

“The question is, what are we supposed to be doing in this world?”

If you believe we’ve misrepresented the foundation of what Jesus came to share, but also believe there’s hope for us to begin shining a new light, you’ll devour this book. Seay stirred my thoughts, jumpstarted my heart and reminded me how important it is to drop to my knees in prayer.

It’s a good book.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for this honest review
**Hop over to
The Writers Alley to see what I had to say about When Characters Surprise You

7 comments:

  1. Wonderful insights. I especially like the 3rd quote. I need one of these for every sheep in our flock, including the wife of the shepherd!

    Thanks for sharing.

    Love
    Jen

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  2. Good review! Thanks so much. This ties in with a sermon I heard last night.
    Blessings,
    Karen

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  3. Wow, this sounds like an awesome book! Esp. how we try to turn Jesus into a pharisee! Thanks for sharing about this. I hope I see it around so I can take a peek at it.

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  4. Sounds interesting! I need to live by this quote. "We cannot be pupils of Jesus unless we are willing to drop our own desperate attempts to fix ourselves, turn in acceptance and humility, and begin to truly learn, to take instruction.”

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  5. Jeanette, The book was packed with good quotes. Couldn't stop underlining.

    Karen, I love it when that happens. Really drives a lesson home.

    Jessica, I'm realizing more and more how I struggle with seeing Jesus as He is--how grace-giving and beautiful in how He loves.

    T.Anne, I seriously loved the quotes in this book. Could have written an entire review on those alone, but I want people to buy this book.

    Thanks for swinging by today, folks. Had a great visit with one of the high school girls I used to lead tonight. God is at work!

    ~ Wendy

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  6. Wendy, OH, have I missed this place. And you must be busy as well, cuz you haven't been hanging at the Seas & Secrets.

    Hey, don't I know what a cave looks like??!!

    I believe my son and his accountability partner are reading this book. Isn't that exciting that 20-somethings are into it???!!

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  7. Looks great. Thanks for the review!

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