Lifestyle Christianity - Christian Counterculture

Westwood Carr Michael

Description

Christianity gives us peace in perplexity, praise in adversity, provision in necessity and purity amidst iniquity. Following Christ's teaching is never easy, but life enrichment is ensured. We have this divine treasure in earthen vessels.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 26 février 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528998420
• Langue: English

Extrait

Lifestyle Christianity – Christian Counterculture
Theology Made Simple
Michael Westwood Carr
Austin Macauley Publishers
2021-02-26
Lifestyle Christianity – Christian Counterculture About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgement Foreword Introduction A Musing in Preparation – Setting the Scene Life's real Objective Chapter 1: Let the Lady Sing Chapter 2: The Conundrum of Confession Chapter 3: The Stress of the Unfinished Chapter 4: From the Stump Chapter 5: The Watchman Chapter 6: Immoveable Chapter 7: Fangs on Our Faith Chapter 8: The Disciple's Incentive Chapter 9: Following Jesus Chapter 10: The Blessing of Apprenticeship Chapter 11: This Treasure Chapter 12: The Glory of Christ Chapter 13: Success or Happiness? Chapter 14: A Crown for the Faithful Chapter 15: Labourers with God Chapter 16: Let Nothing Prevail – Rest in God Chapter 17: Establishing a vision Chapter 18: The Father's Heart Chapter 19: Letter from America Chapter 20: Seeking God Chapter 21: Lest We Forget Chapter 22: Wealth and Worship Epilogue Our Privileges
About the Author
Michael Carr is now semi-retired and although he does not lead a church, he preaches wherever invited. His last full-time calling was as the pioneering senior minister of the Harrow International Christian Centre, which he founded on 6 th December 1987, in the Safari Cinema, Station Road, Harrow, Middlesex. Before that, he ran a house group in his home, in North Wembley, which grew to 50 with 35 in attendance in one year. The house was full!
Concurrently, he was the associate minister at Kensington Temple, Elim's premier church in London, and bishop of the metropolitan region for Elim. He resigned from both those positions to run HICC, which has grown into a flourishing Pentecostal Church of some 50 nations, and several hundred people mingling in joyous harmony.
He was born in 1934 into a working-class household and attended a local college to become a mechanical engineer, but changed to civil engineering and building. He completed his BSc in construction technology at Aston University in Birmingham, and eventually entered the lecturing profession when he was 37 because his first wife became critically ill. He gained his MPhil degree at Reading University in estate management and became the subject tutor for three degrees in building studies when Birmingham Polytechnic became the University of Central England.
He pioneered his first church when he was 25 in Kings Heath, Birmingham, and built two church buildings, and resigned from that work soon after he entered lecturing. He ran his own radio programme at peak listening time called "Your Home" for Radio Birmingham, which dealt with defects and problems in buildings. He was an MCIOB (Member Chartered Institute of Building) and could handle most questions asked, even without the specialist members of the panel, which he organised.
He retired at 50 in 1984 from lecturing and was inducted as the associate minister to Rev Wynne Lewis at Kensington Temple, the leading and largest church in the metropolis. Before this, he was the associate of David Carr, his younger brother, who founded Renewal Christian Centre, Solihull. Whilst living there, he became chairman of the churches – all together in Solihull. He was also the representative for all the Pentecostal churches in the West Midlands on SACRE (Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education) for religious studies in schools. In London, he was appointed leader of all the men's groups for participating churches in the last Billy Graham Crusade held in the metropolis.
As superintendent for Elim, he pastored, taught and managed 55 churches, ministers and their elders making approximately 400 leaders. Coming out of the building industry, he relates to men in particular. Whilst carrying out these anointed callings, he also had time to take his doctorate in ministry, and thus fulfil his overall education having never attended Bible college. He relies on God's Spirit to underline and underscore his teaching. He was, however, the lecturer in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit at Reagents Bible College for Elim for several years.
He has three adult children, his eldest son is a qualified architect and dean of Battersea for the Anglican Church, his second son is a doctor in New Zealand, and his daughter is a fashion designer and consultant specialist in kitchen design. His first wife, Patricia, died in January 2014 and was senior pastor of the church in Harrow. Together they have forged God's kingdom wherever they went, and complemented each other in their passion and desire to see Christ exalted above all other.
Dedication
To faithful pastors who propound the gospel worldwide and who do not shirk to tell the truth in spite of modern pressure to compromise biblical TRUTH; which emanates from an alien society who rejects God and His teaching.
Copyright Information ©
Michael Westwood Carr (2021)
The right of Michael Westwood Carr to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528998390 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528998406 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781528998420 (ePub e-book)
ISBN 9781528998413 (Audiobook)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2021)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
To those faithful people who weekly attend my church and show a diligent pursuit of God responding to the anointed word which challenges their daily walk with God.
Foreword
My first book 1 was on suffering; the trials, temptations and torments through life, both physical and spiritual. I used my first wife's sickness of forty-seven years as a skeleton on which the flesh of suffering could be hung. However, there are a multitude of further experiences and emotions as we live out our walk with God, in an alien world that rejects His name and teachings. We often struggle in our soul with trust in God during those periods of doubt and waiver in maintaining faithfulness amidst the melting pot of adversity among the small but persistent assaults that afflict our pathway. Our motives and minds trouble us by the split in our affections and like the Apostle Paul, we find that the good we would do we do not and, the injurious we abhor, we sometimes do.
We are often too convoluted and mixed up, troubled by a partial commitment and fluctuating belief. We are human, but perhaps that explains it. Why did Adam in a perfect situation with a flawless wife, sin? Our principles are often tortuous and intricate, causing palpitations in our spiritual heart. I have therefore drawn from my experiences and various situations that have arisen during six decades of pastoral Christian witness, to give some answers to many questions that test our faith. It is an exploration of basic doctrine in lifestyle Christianity. Life is a seminary, teaching us daily in the vacillating pathways of our walk with God. Our theology becomes defined and then redefined, as new truth, or the understanding more fully of existing truth becomes apparent. Making philosophy work in the mundane life is not always easy. Our exact definitions are not always correct, and we find that there are exceptions to almost all rules.
There is no definite order in the writings, but as each subject presents itself, like turning a calendar with daily readings, I pass from one thought to another; one set of circumstances to another. Life is like that, it is often not apparently ordered and neat, but a blur and a bother, with the unexpected arising too often. Situations that are ordered and directed have boundaries bringing peace for we can often cope with that which we know and understand, but the inexplicable often worries us.
God is consistent in His love for us. We, however, may reciprocate hesitantly, often depending on current circumstances. Is this or could this be God's will for me, and overlook or fail to perceive He is after our adulthood. He wants many "sons" 2 in glory: for sons, read mature men. For "men" read men or women. We cannot kick against the sharp point or pricks of the goatherder and God's points can be extraordinarily sharp.
There is also the challenge of a progressive understanding of God's principles in our Christian development and perception of known truth. Thus, I deal with various lifestyle teachings that have emerged over recent decades from myriad teachers all faithfully propounding their ideas of divine truth. Never has there been so much revelation on so many tenets of God's undoubted reality and will. However, some teachings are so wild they finish amongst the unknown celestial planets. That is where they should be left!
Each decade we live we change, and grasp more of God, and as age advances, our knowledge increases in part. A wider understanding, a deeper awareness, a fuller discernment combine to answer some of our predilections that make us the person we are and help us come to terms with the lifestyle we live. That backcloth then interprets God, and His reaction to our mild waywardness and mistakes in interpreting His will becomes clearer. I am emphasising routine Christianity, which I count as normal for people of faith.
In essence, the Christian lifestyle is hunger driven. God puts an ache in our hearts that needs fulfilment; it is like physical hunger, when the body demands food, but this is in the spirit. The Holy Spirit inspires our craving for God. Wakin