Stories That Feed Your Soul

Tony Campolo

Description

Bestselling author and modern-day prophet Tony Campolo believes that one of the best ways to tell the grand story of the gospel is to tell stories of everyday life where God is at work...just as Jesus did during his earthly ministry. This collection of stories from Tony's lifelong friendships and international travels allow readers to "overhear" the gospel at work around the world. Set around Romans 8, the stories center on eight gospel themes: freedom of condemnation, new life in Christ, intimacy with God, the call to rescue creation, living with hope, praying in the Spirit, God's plans for us, and the assurance we need. Whether humorous or poignant, each one is an unforgettable echo of God at work around us and within us.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 13 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441223760
• Langue: English

Extrait

2010 Tony Campolo
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Baker Books edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-2376-0
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2011
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-for example, electronic, photocopy, recording-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Other versions used are:
KJV — King James Version. Authorized King James Version.
NIV —Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
NKJV —Scripture taken from the New King James Version . Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
NLT —Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Dedicated to Joel Kent Holland: a man of integrity, and a brother-in-law who loves God and loves his family.
CONTENTS
Introduction
PART 1: FREEDOM FROM CONDEMNATION
1. Somebody Stole Jesus
2. Sin Forgiven and Forgotten
3. Grace Versus Karma
4. A Father’s Forgiveness
5. Grace Is Like Donuts
6. Jesus Understands
7. It Was Meant for You
8. A Father’s Blind Love
9. Anybody Can Be a Christian
PART 2: THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
1. Sacrificial Love
2. Believing Is Not Enough
3. Spontaneous Grace
4. Responding to Terrorism
5. Only Others Can Answer
6. Not Blaming Satan
7. The Need for Passion
8. Living in a Joyless World
9. Church Critics
10. Living Life to the Fullest
11. God’s Jester
12. Having Eyes to See
13. Grace Rather than Law
14. Grace for Our Enemies
15. Pass On the Kindness
16. The Cost of the Cross
17. Taking a Comedian Seriously
18. Prideful Preaching
19. When Self Gets in the Way
20. Godly Courtesy
21. Different Agendas, Shared Compassion
22. Acting Like Christians
23. Forever Young
24. Lost in Construction
25. Make a Joyful Noise—Really!
PART 3: INTIMACY WITH GOD
1. Is This the Same God?
2. God Is Not the Author of Evil
3. Giving Yourself to Jesus
4. Being Alone with Jesus
5. Adoption with No Strings Attached
6. Things Versus Intimacy
7. Trivial Pursuits
8. The Wonder of the Ordinary
PART 4: THE CALL TO RESCUE CREATION
1. When Born Again Doesn’t Do It
2. Rescuing the Soul of a Nation
3. Real Obscenity
4. Wasted Resources and Wasted Time
5. A Voice for the Poor
6. Too Busy to Help
7. Standing Up for Justice
8. Salvation for Animals
9. Politics as Love in Action
10. What to Do Until He Returns
11. Fruits of Revival
12. Changed Individuals Change Society
13. Living the Life Is Not Enough
14. All They Ever Talk About
15. Getting the Big Picture
16. Father Zossima’s Advice
17. Doing What They Had to Do
18. A Shocking Prayer
19. Pulling Down the Shades
20. What Goes Around Comes Around
21. The Need for Love
22. Tenderhearted Prophet
23. Charity and Justice
PART 5: LIVING WITH HOPE
1. The King Has One More Move
2. Anyone for Calvary?
3. The Prodigal’s Father
4. Godly Mothers Never Lose Hope
5. Faithful Prayers
6. God Can Put Me Together Again
7. Other Worlds in Which to Sing
8. Jesus Is More Gracious
9. Knowing Where You Are Going
10. A Very Sad Verdict
11. Philosophers Are Kings
PART 6: PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT
1. God Listens
2. A Challenge from a Taoist
3. Santa Claus Prayer
4. Praying People to Church
5. Prayer Is Personal
6. On Answered Prayer
7. Prayer for the City
8. Prayer Really Does Change Things
9. Healing of the Soul
10. Healing Through Forgiveness
11. Why Doesn’t God Deliver Us?
PART 7: GOD’S PLAN FOR US
1. You Were Once a Sperm
2. Waking Up the Church
3. Old Age and Money
4. Up to a Point
5. Singing in Auschwitz
6. The Tragedy in the ’Hood
7. Seeking What Is Real
8. Testimonies
9. The Cost of Following Jesus
10. Losing Your Calling
11. There’s More to Life than Money
12. Find Your Own Calcutta
13. Being a Catcher in the Rye
14. Become Indispensable
15. Abundant Grace
16. Choices Are in Our Hands
17. Always a Choice
18. Handicaps as Assets
PART 8: THE ASSURANCE WE NEED
1. Faith Without Doubts Is Dead
2. Meeting Jesus Unawares
3. A Father’s Acceptance
4. A Mother’s Love
5. Humor in the Face of Death
6. Can a Buddhist Monk Be “Saved”?
7. Fish Symbol
8. The Battle Has Already Been Won
9. Calling Balls and Strikes
10. Only One Church
11. Enduring Until the End
12. Getting the Wrong Message
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Index
INTRODUCTION
“The gospel is seldom heard. It is overheard,” said Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish existentialist philosopher and theologian.
Kierkegaard compared reading the Bible to the way in which you might overhear a conversation. He asks you to imagine standing behind two men on a street corner, while waiting for a break in the traffic so you can cross the street. The men are talking about someone—and then, suddenly, you realize they are talking about you. You listen intently, because what they are saying is both critical and revealing about who you are. So it is with the reading of Scripture. As you read the stories and conversations recorded in the Bible thousands of years ago, you are likely to become aware that what is being said has been written about you. While you are not being addressed directly, the words, nevertheless, seem to deal with your struggles, your needs, your questions, and your hopes. Sometimes, what is overheard can be quite disturbing.
Within the Bible itself, we find stories of people who overhear things that at first seem to be about others, only to realize that they themselves are being described. As a case in point, this is what happened to David, Israel’s most notable king. Through a story, told to him by Nathan the prophet, David is forced to face up to a dark side of himself and the horrible evil he had done to a beautiful woman and her innocent husband (see 2 Sam. 12:1-7).
One day, King David looked down from the roof of his palace and saw a woman named Bathsheba washing herself. David lusted after her and decided to translate his lusts into action and to “have” Bathsheba for himself. Bathsheba was already married, and her husband, Uriah, one of Israel’s generals, was away with the army, at war. To make a long story very short, David slept with Bathsheba and, when the king knew she had become pregnant, he arranged to have Uriah placed at the front of the battle so that he was certain to be killed. Once Uriah was out of the way, David made Bathsheba his own wife.
To Nathan, God’s prophet, fell the task of forcing David to face up to the enormity of his evil. Nathan did not condemn the king directly, but chose instead the indirect method of telling David a story that would force him to condemn himself. This is the story:
A certain rich man owned a large herd of sheep and possessed all the good things that a wealthy man might enjoy. Nevertheless, when this rich man had a visitor for dinner, he took the beloved lamb of a poor neighbor—a lamb that was loved like a child. He killed the lamb and served it for dinner, leaving the poor farmer heartbroken.
King David was outraged by the story Nathan told him and demanded that the greedy rich man be brought to justice and severely punished. Only then, when Nathan pointed his finger at the king and said, “Thou art the man!” ( KJV ), did David realize that the story was really about himself, and end up judging and condemning himself. Nathan’s story was, as Kierkegaard would say, the “indirect method” by which David “overheard” the horror of the kind of person he had become.
Overhearing the Whole Gospel
Most of us realize that there is both an objective and a subjective side to becoming a Christian. On the one hand, we accept a need for “sound doctrine.” We recognize that our faith must be built on solid propositional truths. On the other hand, however, we sense that there is a need for a personal (subjective) and transforming encounter with the resurrected and ever-present Christ.
When it comes to propositional truth, I believe there is no better statement of the doctrines that are essential for a Christian to believe than the Apostles’ Creed. In this creed, we find a brief, but comprehensive, survey of the teachings that have historically defined the Christian faith. The Apostles’ Creed goes back more than 1,500 years.
Sound doctrine, most of us realize, is not enough. Becoming a Christian involves something more than simply saying yes to a list of biblically prescribed propositional truths. If giving intellectual assent to the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins would provide believers with salvation, then Satan would be “saved.” James 2:19 tells us that “even the demons believe—and tremble!” ( NKJV ). That “something more” that is necessary for salvation comes from subjectively surrendering to God. It requires a yielding to the changes that God wants to effect in our lives. It involves becoming emotionally, psychologically and spiritually open to the transformations that the eighth chapter of Romans describes as the work of the Holy Spirit ( NLT ).
Evangelicals be