David Platt, Secret Church, and 31 Days to Clean Challenge

I’m amazed at how many people across the country are starting to hear about David Platt! Not just people in the surrounding areas of Birmingham or other major cities in Alabama or on college campuses, but online in other peoples’ blogs and in the news. His book is now being sold at LifeWay Christian Stores and made the New York Times best seller list.

I wish you could meet him or attend just one of our Sunday services! For people who can't physically make it to Birmingham, many have started "attending" online by watching the sermon videos.  I wish you could hear just one of his sermons and witness the incredible gift he’s received from God to teach the Word! Some people are just blessed with the gift of teaching (explaining the Word then encouraging others to live it out). I wish people could just feel the experience of being in the room with him and our worship team where you can’t help but become passionate about the gospel, about your own salvation and the salvation of others! Where you’re encouraged to go deeper in your faith and relationship with God, to dedicate your life to serving others and sharing the gospel with them, and to let God use you to accomplish his will.

He’s been facing a lot of criticism and confrontation lately for his ideas, not only from people outside the church but within it. People are upset about the new ideas he’s preaching and things he’s encouraging people to do. The title of his book accurately describes him though: Radical. For those of us who who see and hear him on a regular basis and witness his biblical knowledge and love for God, it's encouraging to see him handle the harsh words and argumentative language with grace, humility, respect, and kindness. I wish I could respond with such mercy, love and understanding in the face of insult and slander.

I think it’s hard for people to hear and accept his message of the gospel- which he aims to base solely on the Word and God’s truth. But to give up the pursuit of "the American Dream” in exchange for the life Jesus died to give us and that glorifies God instead of ourselves, isn’t that attractive or easy to accept. It calls us to be uncomfortable, selfless, and totally surrendered to serving others and the Lord. He’s been blamed of preaching the “poverty gospel.” In other words, in order to be saved and considered righteous before God you must live a poor life. I wish people would actually read his book and meet him. Once you hear him talk and teach though, you see just how devoted he is to truly following the example of Christ. He is a display of a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22 and Titus 1:6-9). By no means does he support this idea that you must be poor in order to be saved or righteous. Instead, he suggests that we should not care more about wealth and material things of this world and living a comfortable, safe, selfish lifestyle than we do about our relationship with God and advancing his kingdom while we are here. He bases all of his teaching on the things Jesus said while he was here concerning how a true disciple should live and what the character of a child of God looks like.

I feel blessed to have found and become a member of his church- The Church at Brook Hills. Patrick and I started attending in the Fall of 2009 and joined in the Summer of 2010. Every time we leave feeling encouraged to grow deeper in our faith and relationship with God, to live in such a way that reflects Christ’s character and the way he would have us live in this world, to serve others and share the gospel with them. We always learn something new and interesting then want to share our new knowledge with others. David’s not always there to preach since he has a passion for missions and is often traveling to share the gospel with unreached people, but he’s still significantly impacting our church community, the city of Birmingham and nations around the world.

Needless to say, I would recommend his book to anyone who wants to deny themselves, take up their cross, follow after Jesus and make disciples of all nations. Also, I’d recommend listening to and reading any of his teaching series! All of our Sunday services are recorded then posted online for viewing or you can read the sermon notes http://www.brookhills.org/media/series/.

He will be hosting the next Secret Church on Friday, April 22 of Easter weekend if you'd like to watch the simulcast! I'm so excited that this is my first one to attend. 6-7 hours of David preaching on the crucifixion of Christ, our salvation and the glory of God! To find out how to watch the simulcast you can go to one of these sites:

http://www.brookhills.org/secretchurch/schedule.html

http://www.lifeway.com/article/170629/

Also, totally unrelated to David Platt, I might have mentioned before that the girls in our small group are reading and studying the book "A Woman After God's Own Heart." I'd love to write about what God has been showing and teaching me through this book, but that post will have to be saved for another time! I do want to tell everyone today that Sarah Mae who blogs at Like A Warm Cup of Coffee has written an E-book expanding on her articles about house cleaning. This relates to our book in that we've been studying the importance and blessing of taking care of our home as women. We are on an assignment from God to serve our husband and children because, after all, they're the most important people in our life. Therefore, our home should be our primary area of ministry! A place where we and our family members feel peace, joy, love, comfort, and the presence of God. We should take care of our homes not just for the sake of the people living in it, but as an act of worship and thanksgiving to the God who blessed us with it. So Sarah Mae has written a book on having a "Martha house" that's clean and not characterized by chaos in the "Mary way," meaning that we have the right heart and attitude about house cleaning. I just wanted to promote it for her because I plan to read it and take the 31 day challenge myself! If you're struggling with the approach and ability to keep your house in a nice, clean order or you're struggling with the desire and motivation to do it, I think this book will be a great way to get started transforming our hearts and our home! 31 Days to Clean just in time for Spring cleaning.