Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)One thing is clear as soon as you pick up Sun Stand Still - it's an extremely challenging book! Pastor Steven Furtick is the lead pastor and founder of the growing Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC. He's a very talented young man, a passionate and biblical preacher, and someone who demonstrates audacious faith. The tittle of the book comes from a passage in the Old Testament describing a highly unusual event. Joshua prayed and God caused the sun to stand still for a full extra day (!) The theme of the book can be summed up in two words: audacious faith. Furtick's clear goal is to encourage us to trust God to do powerful things through us, to awake a sense of vision "lying dormant inside you for years. In short, I'm out to activate your audacious faith. To inspire you to ask God for the impossible. And in the process, to reconnect you with your God-sized purpose and potential."
I found this book to be simultaneously very easy to read, and very hard to read. It was inspiring, but at times discouraging. It was easy to read because Furtick writes heart-to-heart, in plain terms. It was hard because it's so darn challenging! He succeeds at encouraging the reader to consider a faith and a life far beyond what we can do in our own strength, and for this he is to be commended. The difficult part for me is that much of what he talks about assumes the reader has a clear dream or vision from God, a definite purpose that perhaps seems too big to tackle. He says "Before you can pray a Sun Stand Still prayer, asking God to do the impossible you've got to set your sights on the specific impossible thing God wants you to trust him for in your life... When I use the word 'vision' I mean a "clear sense of purpose regarding what God wants to do through your life." Some people would refer to it as a calling or life mission." Therein lies the difficulty. How do you respond when the sense of calling or "life purpose" is but a small cloud?
In any case, there were a number of powerful insights I took away from the book.
- The key to being a disciple is being completely available to Jesus: unconditional obedience.
- Whatever you're good at, that's your calling. Wherever and wherever it may lead you, is holy ground.
- Every member of the body of Christ is a link in the life-change process of other people
- Furtick also hates the phrases "just a volunteer" and "full-time Christian ministry"
- The scope and impact of your vision will be determined by who you believe God is.
- "If you're going to pray for God to make the sun stand still, you'd better be ready to march all night!"
Sun Stand Still is an important and powerful call to trust God to do things completely beyond our own ability, while also giving it absolutely all we've got. If you've got a dream but are lacking the faith to see it come to pass, or if you just find yourself too stuck in comfort and safe prayers, this is definitely a book worth checking out.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible
If you're not daring to believe god for the impossible, you may be sleeping through some of the best parts of your Christian Life."This book is not a Snuggie. The words on these pages will not go down like Ambien. I'm not writing to calm or coddle you.With God's help, I intend to incite a riot in your mind. Trip your breakers and turn out the lights in your favorite hiding places of insecurity and fear. Then flip the switch back on so that God's truth can illuminate the divine destiny that may have been lying dormant inside you for years. "In short, I'm out to activate your audacious faith. To inspire you to ask God for the impossible. And in the process, to reconnect you with your God-sized purpose and potential."—Steven Furtick, from Sun Stand Still"Steven Furtick challenges all of us—from the missionary in the third world to the family in the suburbs—to believe God for the impossible and begin living a life of faith beyond the ordinary." —ANDY STANLEY, senior pastor, North Point Community Church"I don't know anyone better positioned to challenge you to rise above mundane living and embrace faith-filled audacity than Steven Furtick."—Craig Groeschel, senior pastor, LifeChurch.tv"For too long Christians have embraced a miniscule vision of faith.… Steven Furtick reminds us that the God who accomplished the impossible through the great heroes of faith still desires to do the same through us today."—Jentezen Franklin, senior pastor, Free Chapel"This book will show you that your hopes and expectations are truly just the beginning of what God can do."—Ed Young, senior pastor, Fellowship Church
0 comments:
Post a Comment