i’ve had a lot of obsessions in my life…some i don’t care to talk about and some are just funny.  i was absolutely obsessed with switchfoot in high school.  i got the ‘beautiful letdown’ album the summer after high school and i was hooked.  over the next two years i saw them in concert 7 times, bought6 t-shirts, had several posters, and made an effort to listen to them every single day.  if anyone ever said they didn’t like them i took it so personally that i couldn’t talk to them until i could prove them wrong (ridic right?!).  my friend carrie and i used to have games to see who could write out the lyrics to every song the fastest (mind you, this was during pre-calculus).  my prof pic on fbook for all of high school was me touching jon foreman’s arm at the state fair.

this all sounds over-the-top right?  and i guess it was.  i’ve been obsessed just like this with so many other things in my lifetime.

but have i ever felt this way about Jesus?

do i seek to meet him every day?  do i obsess over the words of the Bible just so i can greater understand him?  do i go to every effort to convert my friends?

tonight we’re going to talk about being obsessed.  are you obsessed with Jesus?  are you obsessed with your boyfriend? are you obsessed with yourself?

again, are you obsessed with Jesus? because he’s obsessed with you.

chels, kay, and i are excited to get back into crazy love this semester!  to make sure that we make it through the book, we are going to be reading two chapters for every time we meet.  (lucky for you the chapters are short!).

this week we are reading chapters 3 + 4.  we’ve each read through them a few times and have decided to mostly focus on chapter 4.  if you’ve read it, you’ll know why.  we’ll call ch. 3 our “warm up” for this week.

in chapter 4, chan lists several qualities of a “lukewarm Christian.”  here’s what Scripture says about lukewarm Christians (in revelation 3:15-17):

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

God hates lukewarmness – He wants complete and utter devotion from us.  Reading through this chapter convicted us all quite a bit.  Chelsey decided to highlight the ones that she could work on and let’s just say…there was a lot more yellow than not-yellow on the page.  I identified with so many as well.

As I noted some of these I could work on, I caught myself comparing myself to others who are much worse at them.  “Sure I don’t tithe every week, but my sister never tithes!” or “Sometimes I go to church out of obligation, but look at all these people from Bethel who don’t even go to church at all!”

Comparative thinking is destructive.  God is working with you in writing your story, and it’s not anyone else’s story.  We all have things that we need to work on, no matter how severe/non-severe they may seem.  Here’s what 1 Corinthians 4 says about it:

⁴ My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.⁵ So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.

⁷ For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?

Be thinking on these thoughts as you read (and hopefully re-read through chapters 3 + 4).

Bible study is at 9:30 on Monday night!  Chelsey, Kayla, and I will be giving a part of our stories – what is driving our lukewarmness.  Not to defend ourselves, but to expose ourselves.  We hope that you will be thinking too of what is driving your lukewarmness.  We firmly believe that all of these things Francis listed are symptoms of the sickness, not the heart of it.

for next monday, please read chapter 1 of “crazy love” – highlight and take some notes on things that stuck out to you.

one page 26, chan mentions a video to watch – here’s the link if you get the chance to watch it. ( some of you may have already seen it). it’s about 3 minutes long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ya12I036lg

just to give you a heads up on the plan for next week, we’re going to be breaking up into smaller groups and talking about the aspects of God, as listed on pages 30-34.  while reading through them, find one that sticks out the most to you – maybe your favorite, the one that you struggle with, the one that raises questions, etc.  We’ll have a group for each aspect of God.  The attributes are:

• holy
• eternal
• all-knowing
• all-powerful
• fair and just

can’t wait for monday! WAHOO!

read the preface for tonight!

and guess what we’re gonna talk about tonight??

LOVE!!!!

wahoo!!

seeya there!

wow…we are PUMPED to kick off this new bible study with you guys.  we put a lot of thought and prayer into this book and i think it’s going to give us a new perspective on God and our own faith.

my prayer is that you guys will be challenged by this book.  sometimes it is easy to read a chapter and think that it applies to someone else..but definitely not you.  that could be the case, but maybe God is trying to show you something!

authors like francis chan are very good at getting us to think differently. maybe just a put some words to thoughts we’ve had before. but what we need to recognize first and foremost is that francis is merely a man with some great ideas.  we as Christians cannot get lost in words, but must always be on our feet and thinking clearly.  in order to do this, we MUST be in the Word.  it is our guide.  2 Timothy 3:16-17 says:

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

i encourage you guys to be spending more time in the Bible than in this book.  if you read this book for ten minutes a day, spend 20 minutes in the Word.  this bible study is by no means meant to replace your own personal God time.

i can’t wait for the discussions that are going to come from reading this book together.  i hope that we all (including ME!) can be challenged to grow in our faith.

God bless you guys…i know i am far too blessed to have every single one of you on my floor.