Essentials: Foundational Topics for Christians in Today's World

by Greg Laurie

Whenever the winds of trouble and change blow across our world or through our lives we naturally turn to those things we can count on. We want to know what's solid, lasting, and reliable . . . and what's not. We want to gain a fresh grip on truths that will steady us, sustain us, secure us, and then release us to accomplish and experience all that God intends for our lives. In the pages of this book, pastor, author, and evangelist Greg Laurie opens up a wide panorama of biblical truth from the Person of God to heaven and hell, from navigating these times to preparing for the last times. Standing on these life essentials will bring confidence and hope in a turbulent, fast-changing world.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Greg Laurie is an American author and pastor who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, Harvest Corona in Corona, California Harvest Woodcrest in Riverside, California, Harvest at Kumulani in Kapalua, Hawaii, and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, California.

Reviews

[Katherine Mali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began reading this back in the spring with my church group, Theological Essentials, but finally had the pleasure of finishing it now. Greg Laurie does an excellent job at giving a well-thought out overview of essential topics for Christians to be thinking about. Of course, I really loved the eschatology portion in the fourth section which reignited my interest in reading more about End Times. I definitely recommend this book!

[Otto Jacobsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t finish. The style was not to my taste and a shallow examination of meaningful topics.

[Brian Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very readable. It is faithful to the title as it does very well at covering the essentials of the Christian faith in a sound and easy-to-understand manner. It would be a good one for a relatively new believer to help them understand the basics and the reason for them. It would be good, also, for one who is not a believer but is thoughtfully considering the Christian faith and wondering if it is really truth. It also would help those who have been believers a long time as a good review and as a help to iron out some misconceptions that may have crept in as they are prone to do.

I found that there were also some good quotes that were insightful. One was “Christ was God, but not because He was virgin-born. Rather, He was virgin-born because He was God.” (p50) Another was “If you want God to say yes to you more often when you pray, you must align your will with God’s will…But consider this: You can’t pray, ‘Your kingdom come’ until you are prepared to pray, ‘My kingdom go.’” (p240) A third one was longer but was probably my favorite. It was as follows, “When push comes to shove, there really aren't that many aggressive atheists in our country; most Americans believe in God. The problem, however, is they often believe in a god who isn't real – a god of their own making. They may borrow a little bit from here and a little bit from there and make up a few things on their own, and that becomes their belief system…The glaring problem with all of this self-made theology is that it’s really just the worship of ourselves, and that god will never save us.” (p301)

This book is definitely worth reading.