He is Building a Palace

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

— C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

Francis Chan - Jesus More Than a Savior

Forgotten God Part 1 Sample

God is preparing me for something but I am not sure yet what it is.

Lukewarm

From the book Crazy Love Chapter 4
Philippians 3:10 (New International Version)

10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
The goals of American Christianity are often a nice marriage, children who don’t swear and good church attendance. Taking the words of Christ literally and seriously is rarely considered. That’s for the “radicals” who are unbalanced, those who go overboard. Most of us want a balanced life that we can control, that is safe, and does not involve suffering. Would you describe yourself and totally in love with Jesus Christ or do the words, half-hearted, lukewarm and partially committed fit better?
Lukewarm people:
*Attend church regularly
Isaiah 29:13
*Give money to charity and to the church as long as it doesn’t impinge on their standard of living.
1st Chronicles Chapter 21:24
Luke 21:1-4
*Tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They care more about what people think of their actions, like church attendance and giving, than what God thinks of their hearts.
Luke 6:26
Revelation 3:1
Matthew 23:5-7
*Don’t really want to be saved from their sin; they only want to be saved from the penalty of their sin.
John 10:10
Romans 6:1-2
*Are moved by stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act. They assume such action is for extreme Christians, not average ones. Lukewarm people call radical what Jesus expected of all his followers.
James 1:22
James 4:17
Matthew 21:28-31
*Rarely share their faith with their co-workers or friends.
Matthew 10:32-33
*Gage their morality or “goodness” with the secular world. They feel satisfied that although they are not as hard core for Jesus as so and so they are not where as horrible as the guy down the street.
Luke 18: 11-12
*Say they love Jesus and he is a part of their lives but only a part. They give him a section of their time, their money and their thoughts, but he isn’t allowed to control their lives.
Luke 9:57-62
*Love God, but they do not love him with all their heart, soul and strength. They will be quick to assure you they try to love God that much but that sort of total devotion isn’t really possible for the average person. It’s only for pastors, missionaries, and radicals.
Matthew 22:37-38
*Love others but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves. Their love of others is typically focused on those who love them in return. There is little love left over for those who do not love them back. Their love is highly conditional and highly selective and generally comes with strings attached.
Matthew 5:43-47
*Will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money or energy they will give.
Luke 18:21-25
*Think about life on Earth much more than eternity in Heaven. Daily life is much more focused on today’s to do list, this weeks schedule and next month’s vacation. Rarely if ever do they intently consider their life to come. Regarding this C.S. Lewis wrote, “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most in the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world, that they have become ineffective in this.”
Philippians 3:18-20
Colossians 3:2
*Are thankful for their luxuries and comforts and are rarely considering giving as much as possible to the poor.
Matthew 25:34, 40
Isaiah 58:6-7
*Do whatever is necessary to keep them from feeling too guilty. They want to do the bare minimum to be good enough without it requiring too much of them.
1st Chronicles 29:14
Matthew 13:44-46
*Are continually concerned to playing it safe. They are slaves to the god of control. This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.
1st Timothy 6: 17-18
Matthew 10:28
*Feel secure because they attend church, made a profession of faith at age 12, and were baptized, come from a Christian family, vote Republican, or live in America. Just as the prophets in the Old testament warned Israel that they were not safe just because they lived in the land of Israel.
Matthew 7:21
Amos 6:1
*Do not live by faith. Their lives are structured so they never have to. They don’t have to trust God if something unexpected happens. They don’t need God to help them; they have their retirement plan in place. They don’t genuinely seek out what life God would have them live, they have life figured out, mapped out. They don’t depend on God on a daily basis. Their refrigerators are full, and for the most part, they are in good health. For the most part their lives wouldn’t look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God.
Luke 12:16-21
*Probably don’t drink or swear but besides that they really aren’t that different from your typical unbeliever. They equate their partially sanitized lives with holiness, but they couldn’t be more wrong.
Matthew 23:25-28

Surrender Prayer

Dear Lord,

I need to give myself up. I am not strong enough to love you and to walk with you on my own. I can't do it. I need you. I need you deeply and desperately. I believe you are worth it, that you are better than anything else I could have in this life or the next. I want you and when I don't, I want to want you. Be all in me, take all of me, have your way with me.
In Jesus name I pray,
Amen

Malachi 3:10

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Proverbs: The Heart

Pastor Mark Driscoll January 21, 2009
43mn:31sec


The heart is the wellspring of life and from it flows all of our thoughts, words and deeds. In this lecture from Proverbs, Pastor Mark Driscoll teaches about the heart and how it must be guarded and cultivated towards God.

1 Corinthians 13

I'm still studying the book Crazy Love, the author, Francis Chan, challenged his readers to to read 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 verses 1 through 3.
Then starting in verse 4 replace Love with Your Name... Like this, Angie is patient, Angie is kind. Then when you have done this through verse 7 ask yourself if these verses really describe you.  

1 Corinthians 13
Love
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.


4______ is patient, _______ is kind. _______ does not envy, ______ does not boast,  ______ is not proud. 5 _______is not rude, ______ is not self-seeking, ______ is not easily angered, ______ keeps no record of wrongs. 6 ______ does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7________ always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails... 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Life is about loving God and all who are made in His image. 

 Matthew 22:37-38

37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

Lukewarm and Loving It! by Francis Chan

Crazy Love~Francis Chan