Deus Misereatur

If you have teens and young adults in your church, or are involved at a campus ministry, you may well have looked high and low for solid, Biblical material on sexuality for students. Cooper Pinson, staff member of Harvest USA, has pulled together a small resource to give a hand. "Alive: Gospel Sexuality for Students" is a 136 page paperback that is meant for both young adults and their study leaders. It is likely the very material you're looking for. The front matter in "Alive" is the student guide; essentially a workbook for each young adult in your group. Pinson takes everyone through important subjects, such as God's perspective on sexuality, how things went askew, pornography, masturbation, homosexuality, transgender, dating, singleness and marriage. The back matter is a more in-depth leader's guide that gets further into the details (even mapping out how the roughly 45 minute session should proceed) and directs facilitators in the discussions, e...

Sexual Sanity for Women Healing from Sexual and Relational Brokenness by Ellen Mary Dykas My rating: 5 of 5 stars Frankly, most pastors and Christian leaders don't often think of women having sexual brokenness. Much of the news and material out there focuses on the failings of men. So it was with pleasure I took up "Sexual Sanity for Women: Healing from Sexual and Relational Brokenness" by Ellen Mary Dykas, Women's Ministry Coordinator at Harvest USA. Harvest USA seeks to bring the truth and mercy of Jesus Christ to individuals and families affected by sexual struggles. One way is by providing resources that address biblical sexuality to individuals and churches. And this book is an important piece to that sexual puzzle! This softbound workbook of 208 pages equips ministry leaders and Christian women with some much needed tools toward that end. "Sexual Sanity for Women" is a series of group sessions, supplemented by six appendices. The author uses an a...

Sexual Sanity For Men Re-Creating Your Mind In A Crazy Culture by David         White My rating: 5 of 5 stars Harvest USA seeks to bring the truth and mercy of Jesus Christ to individuals and families affected by sexual struggles. One way is by providing resources that address biblical sexuality to individuals and churches. Toward that end I was delighted to find their workbook, "Sexual Sanity for Men: Re-Creating Your Mind in a Crazy Culture" crafted by David White, Director of Discipleship at Harvest USA. It is written with busy men living crazy-busy lives in mind. "Sexual Sanity for Men" is a 288 page manual ideal for individual devotional work, as well as a small group resource. It covers five days of material each week, that lasts a total of 14 weeks. Each day is a short biblical study that is wedded to three or four reflection questions with loads of space to write down answers and prayers. White takes fellow-travelers from life in the wasteland and ...

For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy by Alexander Schmemann My rating: 5 of 5 stars In many ways, this little 151 page paperback is too big to rightly review. In a nutshell Fr. Alexander Schmemann, an Eastern Orthodox priest, writer and teacher, was gunning for secularism, which is both a Christian heresy - Christian truths that went mad (111) - and a negation of worship (118). Secularism has birthed a deep polarization, even spawning a disincarnate and dualistic spirituality (7-8). Schmemann has much to say and much to give that will help correct our myopic perspective, from an Eastern Orthodox position. Though the book was originally written in 1963, and then expanded and revised in 1973, it speaks into our moment with great clarity! Not only does Schmemann gun for secularism, he supplies us with the antidote: Christ has come "for the life of the world," both restoring and transforming nature. Now, those who believe the Gospel "live in the world se...

Baptism: Answers to Common Questions by Guy M. Richard My rating: 4 of 5 stars When people migrate from one church to another, they normally have interesting questions: "What makes this church different? Why do you all do this? Is there a reason you don't do that?" And so forth. One of the questions I get plenty of is why do we baptize babies and children of professing believers? Guy M. Richard, executive director and assistant professor of systematic theology and Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta, has been asked that question many times as well, and has pulled together some of his answers in the 129 page softback, "Baptism: Answers to Common Questions". It is an easy read, one that speaks in a straightforward fashion. Since there are already several reviews of this work I will address some pros and cons. To begin, Richard engages with "Children of Abraham" written by Baptist scholar David Kingdon. He fairly recounts Kingdon's perspective...

{This congregational prayer is tied together by Psalm 36} “ Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit; he has ceased to act wisely and do good. He plots trouble while on his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he does not reject evil. Our hearts, O God, grieve for those who have never repented of their sins, believed in Christ and avowed him as Lord… Save them, work mightily penetrating their resistance and draw them into your family. / But we also pray for those whose words are trouble and deceit, who plot trouble on their beds, who set themselves in a way that is not good and don’t reject evil: Terrorists, guerrillas, Antifa, Proud Boys and the KKK; thuggish leaders of nations and blood-spattered rebels; thieves, molesters, muggers, and the high-society promotors of death. O God...