Starving Jesus

I already posted a blog about how I am a big quotes guy. 

I just finished a book called Starving Jesus by Craig Gross and J.R. Mahon.  These guys are from the XXXChurch.com ministry, but the book isn't about that ministry.  Here are some quotes I liked.

 

(Since the book is written by two guys, if it is a quote from Craig I'll put CG in parenthesizes after the quote and JR for quotes from J.R.)

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"Satan does a great job ministering to those in the church who love the fame and power associated with helping others heal.  You can get drunk on helping people change their lives. Unchecked, the lie becomes “God had little to do with it, and I am solely responsible for this new life.”  Believe that lie long enough and you start believing your own press.  Satan then devours those seeking themselves by helping them celebrate their own self-centeredness.  In the long run, the lie turns into a self-righteous theology that says, “I am the bottom line in the lives of people.”  The ministry quickly becomes about a man and what the man has to say or not say." (CG)

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"Jesus understands the human drive to be important and valued by other people.  He is here to set us free from ourselves.  The freedom needs to express itself in selflessness and service to others.  He’s looking for your reaction to the world to be that of a servant." (CG)

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"Paul, James, Luke, Mark, and countless others who have followed in their footsteps all dealt with the truth and its ability to set us free from sin.  Their evangelizing tactics differed from one another, yet what they said and how they said it was so offensive to the world that most of them wound up dead at the hands of another man or country." (CG)

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"Be willing to fight the good fight every day.  This doesn’t mean we match wits with the world. It means we are to be salt and light, to let the world see our good deeds so they, the world, can praise the Father.  We collectively need to offend the senses of the world with the truth.  The life of Christ was, is, and always will be offensive to the world." (CG)

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“Sometimes I think we have lost our nerve as followers of Christ.  I often think if we lived under the threat of death in this country, similar to what the early church faced, we would be on our game.  The early church knew what the deal was.  They knew it was only a matter of time before they were going to be put in jail and crucified.  Paul called himself a prisoner of Christ.  The first time I read that, I thought, That ain’t for me.  Think about it: Their message was so disturbing, so offensive, that they knew it meant death.  When Jesus told his disciples, 'Take up your cross and follow me,' he was not talking about some little mission or job; he was talking about dying for the cause." (CG)

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"The world has come to identify us by what we hate and what we are offended by, instead of by what we love or why we love." (CG)

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"Whether it’s a porn-show outreach, feeding the homeless, or painting your neighbor’s house, we must meet people the same way Jesus did—unafraid of what the truth will do for them." (CG)

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"Perhaps more than anyone in history, Paul understood his role of offending like Jesus.  We often like to dismiss Scriptures from Paul, because they make us responsible to all the people around us.  Paul says, 'By all possible means I might save some' (1 Cor. 9:22).  All possible means.  That Scripture is not a loaded gun giving you license to be a complete idiot in the name of Christ, but it is the freedom to go, do, and say what you need to.  To say it to anyone, anywhere, at any time.  Actually, it is a responsibility." (CG)

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"You want to know if you’re listening to God?  Ask yourself one question: Who am I predominantly concerned with when I am making decisions?  Is it you and your plans?  Is it God and his already-established will for you, found in his Word?  It takes a lot of guts to answer this question.  Answering means you will come face-to-face with yourself.  If you are answering honestly, you will gain the understanding that you walk with Christ has very little to do with you plans and design.  It is solely about serving God and those around you.  That question should be in your breast pocket at all times.  Use it as a guidepost for making decisions." (CG)

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"Put down the life you think you need, and open yourself up to the life Christ has designed." (CG)

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"He gave himself until they killed him.  His resurrection means you need to do the same." (CG)

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"If you’re looking for God to tell you directly what to do, you are not studying the Word, and you’re definitely not understanding that this ain’t about you." (CG)

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"Giving should equal relationships.  We should be striving to build new friendships and new communities every day.  We should be looking constantly for ways to inject our newfound freedom into the lives of those lost and looking for Christ.  Giving is not about the church, it’s about the faith Christ had in us to give.  He sat on a hill two thousand years ago and assumed we would." (CG)

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"Christ knew we would struggle with prayer.  He knew praying to a God we can’t see or touch would be problematic.  That’s why he taught us exactly how to pray.  That’s why he challenged the disciples to pray.  Jesus would go off for hours—sometimes all night—and pray.  He did this consistently, so you and I would know the value of prayer, the value of talking with the Father alone about whatever… It was simply asking God to do whatever it is we cannot or sometimes just don’t want to do." (JR)

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"We understand that works aren’t saving us or anyone else, for that matter, but works designed to inspire people to Christ will help answer the most important question in the world: Who is Jesus?" (CG)

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"I will walk with him, because he is my life.  Maybe that’s a little perfunctory, but that’s all it is and all it has to be." (CG)

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"Church is sinful because we are sinful.  We as a body are prone to wander from God; God doesn’t wander from us." (JR)

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"When you act out your faith, when you move toward God, it is often the hardest thing to comprehend, especially when it produces fruit you can touch, eat, and share.  From nothing stems something.  This is how God gets it done.  But how can it be true?  How can God, whom we have never seen, never heard, interact with us?  How can God change our lives after the collection of garbage we manage to amass in a lifetime?  Yet somehow when we step forward in a belief that says he can and will, he shows up and we come to understand he is our salvation, our hope, and our freedom from whatever sin takes us down." (JR)

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I've certainly read better, but it was worth the read.  Check it out and tell me what you think.

 

Peace.