David Platt
David Platt
David Joseph Plattis an American pastor. He is currently the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, and he is also the author of the New York Times Best Seller Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Platt released a follow-up book, Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God in April 2011. And in February 2013, he released Follow Me: A Call to Die. a Call to Live, which included an...
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth11 July 1979
CityAtlanta, GA
Believing in the Jesus of the Bible makes life risky on a lot of levels because it is absolute surrender of every decision we make, every dollar we spend, our lives belong to another.
Accept Him? Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don't we need Him?
Do we believe the reward found in Jesus is worth the risk of following Him?
Jesus is no longer one to be accepted or invited in but one who is infinitely worthy of our immediate and total surrender.
Jesus has not given us options to consider. He has given us commands to obey.
Real success is found in radical sacrifice. Ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of God. The purpose of our lives transcends the country and culture in which we live. Meaning is found in community, not individualism; joy is found in generosity, not materialism; and truth is found in Christ, not universalism. Ultimately, Jesus is a reward worth risking everything to know, experience, and enjoy.
The mega-strategy of Jesus: make disciples.
The journey begins, though, with understanding what it means to be a christian. To say you believe in Jesus apart from conversion in your life completely misses the essence of what it means to follow him. Do not be deceived.
This is the reality about humanity. We are each born with an evil, God-hating heart. Genesis 8: 21 says that every inclination of man's heart is evil from childhood, and Jesus' words in Luke 11: 13 assume that we know we are evil.
This extremely shocking and utterly revolutionary call is the essence of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: we are not called to simply believe certain points or observe certain practices, but ultimately to cling to the person of Christ as life itself.
When we realize that Jesus is the one who takes the initiative and invites us to follow him, everything changes-on multiple levels.
Disciple making also involves teaching people to obey all that Christ has commanded us. Now some might say, "Isn't that what preachers are supposed to do?" And in one sense, the answer to this question is yes. God has clearly called and gifted some people in the church to teach his Word formally. At the same time, he has commanded every follower of Jesus to teach his Word relationally.
Let me introduce you to Jesus.
Christianity does not start with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but with an invitation Jesus offers to us.