Live Brave

Sun Stand Still

This is my first book review on the blog, and I could not have a better book to write about in terms of relevance and personal application. Steven Furtick is the Lead Pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, a church that he calls "a move of God." And if you know anything about him or the church, there is really no disagreeing with his assessment.

So he wrote this book from his life experiences in becoming a Christian, going to college, preaching to the lost, and planting a church. He said a lot of what made the difference was receiving vision, praying for the vision, and doing the necessary things the vision called for. When he received his vision from Jesus, he activated his faith and left the rest up to God.

The idea of the book is found in Joshua 10:12-14 where Joshua was conquering some of the first bits of the Promised Land. He was busy defeating the Amorites when he noticed that they fled and hid. Joshua knew that when the sun went down it was going to be hard to see the enemy and truly win the battle. He held on to the promise God gave him, believed that God would answer his bold prayer, and went out and marched to get the enemy as if the prayer already worked. He prayed for the sun to stand still until the battle was over. It did.

God gives us all vision. Sometimes we don't receive it. Sometimes we receive it but we don't believe it. Sometimes we believe it but we don't do anything about it. Steven Furtick calls Christians who live as if God doesn't answer prayers anymore to an audacious faith that can make miracles happen. Movements of God can happen in all types of churches, but they start in the heart of the believer!

Steven casts his vision and inspires the reader to "Ignite the Ordinary" in their lives. He references Moses and the burning bush. It was just an ordinary day. Moses was doing his every day job. It was an ordinary walk with an ordinary bush. Then something extraordinary happened. God showed up. He ignited the ordinary and gave Moses a vision (you will lead my people to freedom and the Promised Land). 

I personally wonder the conversation Moses had with his people after that moment with God and the burning bush. He didn't have pictures or video. Nobody was facebooking or tweeting what was happening. He had to tell his people and Pharaoh that He met God - and he had to believe God was going to come through.

In "Sun Stand Still" Steven uses the people of the Bible and the people in his life to connect the reader to hearing God's Word, speaking God's Word, and doing God's Word. In almost every character in the Bible, and any person who has ever made a difference in ministry, there was vision, faith, and action. Without the listening for God, the praying for the vision, and doing it as if it is already done, Steven says we are missing out on a huge part of our walk with God.

"It is not until [we] risk failure, embarrassment, and physical harm that the supernatural power of Jesus starts working on [our] behalf."

This book wrecked me. It showed me a lot about God's Word, prayer, and living my life in worship. It taught me a lot about faith and how I need to rely on His provision over my ability. God listens. A man once asked for the sun to stand still. It did. It hasn't happened since. Why not?

This type of prayer, a "Sun Stand Still" prayer, is the type movements of God are founded on. The sun may not have stood still since, but God has moved powerfully many times because of others' faith. Can God do that for you? Will you ask Him?

 

*To purchase Steven Furtick's book "Sun Stand Still" go here.

What do you mean by "Live Brave?" (First Post)

Hi. My name is Dan O'Leary and I am the Lead Pastor of a church plant on Long Island, NY named Arise Community Church. I felt it was necessary to open this blog with an explanation of our basic message and our basic call to the community. It is our motto in a way, and it is "Live Brave" (actually inspired by an episode of Eli Stone).

There are so many cheats, cowards, and worse yet, apathetic people living in our world. One of the greatest evils is the indifference of good men. Another one of the greatest evils is the pride of the church and the judgment it leaves with people. To stand up and say to the world that grace, honor, and love are true tenets of the church, and to reject the pride of the current trend in Christianity without becoming judgmental ourselves, is to live brave. To extend grace to the worst of sinners, even the ones who attend church every day (because they can be the meanest), is a brave thing to do. To hold people accountable for their actions, and to state the truth, especially when the truth is the very thing people do not want to hear, is a way of living brave. Basically, it is showing honor, courage, loyalty, right conduct, and love in our every day lives, instead of merely talking about it. 

I wrote an answer to the question, "What does it mean to live brave?" for our church plant proposal. I would like to share it with you.

"Living Brave is about actually living an inspired life instead of just waiting to die. It’s about not being ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s about having honor, faith, hope, and most of all, love. It’s about not backing down when times get rough. It’s about doing the right thing – especially when the right thing is the hardest thing. Living Brave is a call from God to His people to stand for Him, help others, and give Him glory. To live brave is to be transformed by God’s grace, being free from the chains of sin, supporting His amazing story." 

When I asked my good friend Jason Poblete to describe in his terms what living a brave life for God looked like, he responded with this: 

“A life lived bravely and courageously is a sign of selling out for Love. The concept of living a brave life is more than facing certain situations with strength and a confidence. To live brave is to live for Christ in every aspect of life. It requires us to step out of our comfort zone and purposely seek the unfamiliar, the uncomfortable and the fears that keep human beings in our ‘comfort bubbles.’ 

         “When we declare a brave life, it is the first step in striving fervently for Christ. To live anything but a brave life is to be lukewarm in a relationship with Him. He doesn’t want the lukewarm. He wants the brave. He wants those that are on fire for Him and are stepping out of their comfortable, safe, and routine world and jumping into a life-long pursuit of the Lord.”  

We are actually writing a book together entitled “A Brave Life”, and this is most likely the rough draft of the prologue or introduction. Jason is a student at Penn State University, and this book is a written attempt for both of us to describe and be held accountable for the life we so desperately want to live for God.

Living brave is an every day battle. It is the refusal of mediocrity, selfishness, poor choices unchecked, and pretending to be God. It is the acceptance of the call that God laid upon Joshua and the entire nation of Israel, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to doing this more often. Be blessed and strive to live a brave life. 

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With Honor, 

Dan