Love, Sex, And Happily Ever After (book review)

There is something about the way Craig Groeschel writes that just connects with me (maybe it’s the Craigness that we share!). So when I heard about Love, Sex, And Happily Ever After, I knew it was going to be an excellent read. And I was not disappointed!

With divorce rates so high in our country, far too many couples enter into marriage with the thought in the back of their minds that “this might not work out.” Using sound biblical principles and examples, Craig shows that it’s not only possible for a marriage to go the distance, but that our marriages can get better and better and better as they go along.

In his very creative style, Craig covers principles like:

  • Falling in love with The One
  • Finding your Two
  • The first, second, third, fourth and fifth gears of dating relationships
  • The dangers of living together (“playing house”) before marriage
  • How to know if you should breakup with someone you’re dating
  • Heart habits that will help your marriage go the distance

When I was sharing with a friend some of the thoughts I was reading, he said, “That sounds like good old fashioned common sense.” And that’s exactly what this book is, because it is so firmly based on The Book.

If you would like to add something to your marriage, there is a lot to discover in here. But I think this book is especially appropriate for dating and engaged couples. In fact, since my role as a pastor means I get to do quite a bit of pre-marriage counseling, I’m going to make this book required reading for all of the couples I counsel.

I am a Multnomah book reviewer.

Book Reviews From 2011

Here is the complete list of books I read in 2011. Click on each title to be taken to my review…

7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens

A Collection Of Wednesdays

A Treasury Of A.W. Tozer

Abandon The Ordinary

Average Joe

Be A People Person

Be The People

Biblical Ethics

Biblical Psychology

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Bringing Sons Unto Glory

Chazown

City On Our Knees

Costly Grace

Doing Virtuous Business

Elite Prayer Warriors

Enemies Of The Heart

Experiencing The Spirit

Fasting

For Men Only

From The Library Of A.W. Tozer

Galileo

Generation iY

George Washington Carver

Get Off Your Knees And Pray

Go For Gold

God Is The Gospel

Has God Spoken?

Home And Away

How The Mighty Fall

How To Read The Bible

How To Win Friends And Influence People

I Knew Jesus Before He Was A Christian

In Visible Fellowship

Leadership Gold

Leadership Is Dead

Leadership Prayers

Lee: A Life Of Virtue

Letters From Leaders

MacArthur: America’s General

Max On Life

Me, Myself & Bob

Never Surrender

Night

On The Verge

Peach

Plugged-In Parenting

Radical Together

Remember Why You Play

Say It With Love

Secure Daughters, Confident Sons

Sherman: The Ruthless Victor

Smith Wigglesworth On Faith

Soul Work

Soulprint

Stuff Christians Life

Sun Stand Still

The Blessing Of Adversity

The Church In Exile

The Heart Of A Great Pastor

The Hour That Matters Most

The Next Christians

The Seed

Toxic Committees & Venomous Boards

untamed

Upside

Wandering In The Wilderness

We Shall See God

Whale Done

What The Bible Says About The Holy Spirit

Why God Won’t Go Away

Why Great Men Fall

You Were Born For This

Looking forward to sharing more great reads with you in 2012! Let me know if there are any books you would like me to review.

What Gift Are You?

In our Living In The Zone series yesterday, we looked at the gifts God gives to us. These gifts are to help us find the “sweet spot” where God wants us to operate. They are specifically given so that God can use us.

I love this thought from Craig Groeschel: “God’s gifts in you equip you for your gift to the world.”

You are gifted to be a gift to the world.

Check out this video we showed yesterday morning…

Did you catch this exchange near the end?

“Do you think you’re a role model?”

“I hope so! I wanna be an encourager. To encourage people to do something with their lives, instead of doing nothing. Because so many people in the world in this day and time have no gumption, have no purpose, and they don’t want to get off the couch. They wanna sit there and say, ‘Woe is me! My back hurts, my this, my that,’ and wallow in themselves, when they could get out. The more you do for someone else, the more God’s going to bless you. Even if means giving someone a cup of coffee, or a hug, or something like that. That’s what it’s all about.”

What gift(s) has God given you? What gift are you being to the world?

Chazown (book review)

I’m a huge Craig Groeschel fan, and Chazown didn’t do anything to diminish my respect and admiration for what Craig has to say. Chazown may be a funny-looking word (it’s pronounced khaw-zone, by the way), but it is vitally important to a successful life.

Right at the beginning of the book, Craig defines the importance of Chazown this way:

Where there is no Chazown—no dream, no revelation, no vision, no sense of our created purpose—we perish.
Where there is no vision that you were created to have a growing, lifelong, and personal relationship with your Creator, your inner being withers and dies.
Where there is no vision that you have been placed on earth to matter deeply to people, and reveal God’s love and power to them, you live in loneliness and your relationships perish.
Where there is no vision for a godly family, you have a 50 percent chance of ending up divorced.
Where there is no vision that your body is the temple of God’s Spirit—property on loan from Him—your physical health slips away. Your exuberance fades.
Where there is no vision for a financially wise lifestyle, you can live in the richest country on earth and still be drowning in debt.
Where there is no vision for meaningful work, people live for five o’clock. They really just exist. Their goal is to survive—to pay bills, stay married, keep the kids out of jail….
But you and I were made for so much more.

Chazown is easy to read (most of the chapters are very short), and the “You Are The Author” exercises throughout the book make the message of chazown applicable to your life. And Craig’s transparency about his own struggles and successes makes the message of chazown real to your life.

A key component in making your chazown work for you is accountability. The back of this book contains study guides for small groups, and there are plenty of team resources available on the chazown website.

This book is especially timely at the beginning of a New Year when so many are making resolutions. Chazown can help you make meaningful life changes that make a real difference.

I am a Multnomah book reviewer.

The Christian Atheist (book review)

Every time I read a Craig Groeschel book, I know I’m going to read words that cut right across all of my excuses for not changing. And I was not disappointed to find this pattern continued with his latest book The Christian Atheist.

If the title sounds like an oxymoron (you can read the definition of this funny-sounding word here), that’s because it is. Or is it? The subtitle of the book gives the right-on-target definition of a Christian atheist: believing in God but living as if He doesn’t exist.

So every chapter is titled, “When you believe in God, but…

  • …you don’t really know Him.”
  • …you are ashamed of your past.”
  • …you aren’t sure He loves you.”
  • …you don’t think you can change.”
  • …you don’t share your faith.”
  • and many more!

It reminds me of what James wrote in his letter to the church, where he called them out for being Christian atheists: “You believe in God? Good for you! Even the demons believe in Him. But you’re not living like you believe in Him.”

Brennan Manning wrote,

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today are Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

But Craig doesn’t just identify the symptoms, he gives his readers the prescriptions too. In easy-to-apply concepts, Craig tells those who believe in God how they can make the changes that won’t deny God by their atheistic lifestyle.

I highly recommend this book to you.

I am a Zondervan book reviewer.

Worrywart

“Worry indicates we’re not willing to let God handle certain things—at least not in His way, and certainly not in His time.” —Craig Groeschel, in The Christian Atheist

Worry is a control issue

…that is, I want to be in control.

Worry is a sovereignty issue

…that is, I think I know best how things should work out.

Worry is a trust issue

…that is, I trust God only when things are happening on my timeframe.

Bottom line: Worry is sin when

  • …I allow something else to be bigger than God.
  • …I allow something else to be more important than God.
  • …I allow something to limit God.
  • …I look more to myself for solutions than I look to God.

Any worry should be a call to prayer: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Any extended worry should be a call to repentance: Jesus commands us four times, “Do not worry” (Matthew 6:25-34).

Worry can be disguised in a lot of different forms, but it’s still worry. And it’s still sin. I’m working on this.  

I Don’t Have To Be A Know-It-All

I’m still reading through Craig Groeschel’s book The Christian Atheist. This morning I read a statement that Craig quotes from Andy Stanley:

“You don’t have to understand everything to believe in something.”

I don’t know about you, but this gives me such freedom! Especially in my role as a pastor where sometimes I feel like I’m supposed to understand it all.

I don’t have to have an answer to every question to point people to God.

I don’t have to be able to unravel every theological mystery to tell people Jesus loves them.

I don’t have to know how He does it to lead people to the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t have to know why everything happened the way it did to care for hurting or confused people.

The bottom line is I can only know the part—the infinitesimal part—that the Holy Spirit has made alive to me. But that part is more than enough for me to keep on loving my God and my Savior!

Knowing God

I read a line in Craig Groeschel’s book—The Christian Atheist—this morning, and several thoughts have been swirling in my heart and mind. He wrote, “Get to know God. When you do, you will never be the same.” Maybe this resonates with you too.

To know God.

To really know Him.

Not just to know facts, or recite a history, or to know what He said. But to know HIM.

To know Him better. Better today than yesterday. To know His mind, His heart, His thoughts. Not knew (past tense) but know right now—this very moment.

What pleases Him? What does He long for? What breaks His heart? What are His plans for me?

Am I knowing Him?

Am I pleasing Him?

Am I living for Him today?

Am I walking in the path He wants me to?

Do I really know God?

I’m thankful for the Holy Spirit who helps me know God more. He helps me develop a more intimate knowledge. I’m so grateful that the Holy Spirit helps me to know that I am knowing God—intimately, personally, increasingly.

I will not stop my pursuit of God. I cannot stop. I don’t want to stop. I must know Him more today.