Radical: Chapter 9, The Radical Experiment

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Jay F Guin

I’m working through David Platt’s Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream chapter by chapter. But although I’ll be covering points from each chapter, you really need to read the book. Platt is a great story teller, and he makes his points much better than I can communicate in a summary.

I dare you to test the claims made in the gospel, maybe in a way you have never done before. I invite you to see if radical obedience to the commands of Christ is meaningful, more fulfilling, and more gratifying than the American dream. And I guarantee that if you complete this experiment, you will possess an insatiable desire to spend the rest of your life in radical abandonment to Christ for his glory in all the world.

We’ll call it the Radical Experiment. (pp. 184-185)

So my challenge to you is to use one year of your life to radically alter the remainder of your life. …

I dare you over the next year to …

1. pray for the entire world;

2. read through the entire Word;

3. sacrifice your money for a specific purpose;

4. spend your time in another context;

5 commit your life to a multiplying community. (p. 185)

 

About Jay F Guin

My name is Jay Guin, and I’m a retired elder. I wrote The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace about 18 years ago. I’ve spoken at the Pepperdine, Lipscomb, ACU, Harding, and Tulsa lectureships and at ElderLink. My wife’s name is Denise, and I have four sons, Chris, Jonathan, Tyler, and Philip. I have two grandchildren. And I practice law.
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3 Responses to Radical: Chapter 9, The Radical Experiment

  1. John says:
    August 5, 2011 at 6:39 am

    The hope for the Church of Christ becoming a radical, kingdom first community of faith is alive mostly in urban and college town churches. The small town, rural church is still locked in the “He is a fine Christian and American” mode of thinking. Even in the Northern part of the country there is the carefulness of not straying too far from the norms of the “southern church”.; after all, Jerusalem is watching.

    The first two challenges of praying for the entire world while reading though the entire word are needs not only for the CoC, but for other conservative denominations. But let me stress the importance of spending time, much time, in the Gospels AND the Prophets. To hear the cry of the Prophets to rise above nationalism in order to “…act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”, then to see this very way of life in Jesus is a feast and a mind altering experience that many within conservative protestant churches have never imagined. But once they do, sometimes the only thing they know what to say is the payerful whisper, “Oh my…thank you God; thank you”.

  2. Price says:
    August 5, 2011 at 6:50 am

    What John said ..

  3. Todd Collier says:
    August 5, 2011 at 11:44 am

    Will begin preaching through this one in January (Hopefully right after I return to the pulpit from chemo) and will follow with Radical:Together. Am very excited about the prospect.

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