Some booklets: In Our Joy & Sexual Temptation - review

(As I look at the title of this post, I realize that it is an odd pairing of reviews.)

In Our Joy is a book(let) from the Desiring God Conference. It is a condensed version of John Piper's What Jesus Demands from the World.

In Our Joy has six chapters:

Part One: The Hard Road of the Christian Life
(1) Coming to Jesus is not easy
(2) Following Jesus is a hard road
(3) The road is hard, but it is not joyless

Part Two: Jesus, Joy, and Striving to Enter the Kingdom
(4) Strive to enter the narrow door
(5) Without Jesus our striving would be losing
(6) Our joy sustains our striving

"If you follow Jesus only because he makes life easy now, it will look to the world as though you really love what they love, and Jesus just happens to provide it for you. But if you suffer with Jesus in the pathway of love because he is your supreme treasure, then it will be apparent to the world that your heart is set on a differene fortune than theirs." pp 21-22

The second booklet is Randy Alcorn's Sexual Temptation: How Christian Workers Can Win the Battle. Very brief and quite good. He give some great practical advice to those in ministry. Here is an example:

"Some years ago my copastor and friend Alan Hlvaka and I each developed a list of all the specific consequences we could think of that would result from our immorality. The lists were devastating, and to us they spoke more powerfully than any sermon or article on the subject."

"Periodically, especially when traveling or when in a time of temptation or weakness, we read though his list. In a personal and tangible way it brings home God's inviolate law of choice and consequence. It cuts through the fog of rationalization and fills our hearts with healthy, motivating fear of God. We find that when we begin to think unclearly, reviewing this list yanks us back to reality and the need both to fear God and the consequences of sin." pp 28-29

You can get a free copy here.