Book Review: "God's Favorite Place on Earth" by Frank Viola



Few books that I have read have had the impact that "God's Favorite Place On Earth" has had on the way I see Christ. For the majority of my Christian life Christ has been a distant Lord, watching and judging me as I stumble along in this journey. Frank Viola clearly illustrates a totally different - and accurate - picture of the Christ who dwells in us.

Bethany, while a historic community that was the home of Simon the Leper and the well known Mary, Martha and Lazarus, was also a place of rest and refuge for our Lord while He dwelt among us in His physical form. It was, in fact, from Bethany where the feet of Jesus last touched the dust of this world. In this book, Frank does an excellent job of communicating that Bethany is so much more than just a historical place and that the Lord still seeks Bethany today. In his unique (at least to my reading experience) approach to communicating the story, Frank uses a combination of actual scripture, dramatic interpretation and spiritual application to bring the reader to a place of being able to recognize Bethany as a place that still exists today. Yes, the book tells the story, but there's so much more here to be discovered.

Several points which stood out to me I would like to highlight, if I may. 

• "While brokenness is difficult, it’s beautiful because it makes God look good. Your natural gifts draw attention to yourself while brokenness draws attention to your Lord. With this in mind, power is dangerous in the hands of an unbroken vessel."

Maybe we should think twice before questioning God when trials seem to overtake us.  Frank gives keen insight into the heart of Christ as He internally processed the sickness, death and call to resurrection of Lazarus.

• "We live in a day where the popular idea behind ministry training is to focus on developing one’s gifts. Gift inventories, personality surveys, and strength indicator tests are the rage among those who want to be equipped for ministry today. But these kinds of tests set your eyes on your gifts. They put the focus on your strengths and your natural abilities. They make you the center of attention. However, the Lord is far more interested in your weaknesses than in your strengths. He’s interested in breaking you. Why? Because when there is less of you in the way, there is more room for Him to work."

If you have not experienced this type of gathering, you are missing out on what I feel is the Lord's heart for His bride.  A gathering where the Lord is released from the confines of religion and free to express Himself to reveal His glory and His heart.  These gatherings are out there if you really want to experience this.

• "We live in a day where the popular idea behind ministry training is to focus on developing one’s gifts. Gift inventories, personality surveys, and strength indicator tests are the rage among those who want to be equipped for ministry today. But these kinds of tests set your eyes on your gifts. They put the focus on your strengths and your natural abilities. They make you the center of attention. However, the Lord is far more interested in your weaknesses than in your strengths. He’s interested in breaking you. Why? Because when there is less of you in the way, there is more room for Him to work."

 If you have spent any time in church, you have experienced this.  How refreshing to know that God is not interested in what WE can do, but rather what HE can do through us.

"God's Favorite Place On Earth" is well written, well documented and a well of insight into the heart of our Lord for His bride. It can easily be used for a group book study, daily devotional and would also make an excellent gift. It is a must-read for those who desire to know Christ deeper.   Many thanks to Frank for sending a copy of this powerful story to me to review.  This is one book that has definitely earned 5 Stars!

     

Coming SOON!



Shortly, I will be receiving a review copy of God’s Favorite Place on Earth by Frank Viola. The book released May 1st and stayed in the top # 50 on Amazon.com for 8 straight days. There’s a lot of buzz about this book on the Web, and I’ll be writing a review after I read it.
Here are a few interesting nuggets about the book.

* It’s been recommended by 47 Christian authors, including John Ortberg, Jack Hayford, Leonard Sweet, Tricia Goyer, Mary DeMuth, Greg Boyd, Todd Hunter, Jon Acuff, Phil Cooke, and many others.

* There is an interesting video trailer for the book that introduces it.

* The book tells the story of Jesus in the little village of Bethany and the amazing things that happened there through the eyes of Lazarus. It combines biblical narrative, dramatization, theological insights, and nonfiction devotional teaching. It argues that “Bethany” was God’s Favorite Place on Earth and explains how every Christian and every church can be “Bethanys” today for God.

* The book addresses 18 specific struggles that Christians face today and offers hope, challenge, and fresh insight.

 

You can check all of this out at God’s Favorite Place on Earth and get the book on discount.

My Take on the Origins of Athiest and Agnostics





I think that most of those who profess to be atheist or agnostic have somewhere down the line been hurt, offended or injured by someone "claiming" to be a Christian.  Instead of seeing the fault in the person they attribute the fault of the person to Christ.   "If that is what this 'Jesus' is all about then I want nothing to do with Him or His religion" - can you blame them?   So many 'church members' experience this same thing - being hurt by those who call themselves Christians - even those in leadership positions within the institution.   All over the world you have men standing in pulpits every week telling their congregations that they must live their lives in a manner that even they, themselves are unable to do - how can we 'love those who persecute us', 'bless those who curse us', do good to those who do us harm'?   In our flesh, we cannot.   It is our nature to repel or even destroy those who do such things to us, our family or even our country.   The ONLY human being ever able to do this was Christ.   No one before and no one since.   Why then is it rammed down our throats that we must be "Christ-like", when in our flesh we have proven over the past 6 thousand years that we are unable to do so?   Can we, over the course of a lifetime, be successful in imitating the creator of the universe, proving ourselves to be "good enough"?   Seems to me all we will prove is what miserable failures we are in accomplishing this task. 

I have read and re-read the entire New Testament and no where have I found any command or instruction to try and 'be like Christ'.   Can we become omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent?  Paul said told us to be "imitators of God" and to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us" (Ephesians 5).   Jesus gave the church one commandment to replace all of the others, including the two "greatest" commandments (Love the Lord and Love your neighbor as yourself) because He knew that, in our flesh, we would not be able to comply with even just these two, much less the whole of the Law and the Prophets.   He said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34) 

So, how can we do this?   How did Jesus do it?   How did He love 12 obstinate, stubborn, unbelieving men who fought between themselves, thought themselves to be more worthy than their friends to receive a place of honor in the Kingdom and left Him high and dry when things got tough?   He loved them with the indwelling love of His Father that looked past their faults into eternity.   It makes perfect sense then, that the only way we can obey this one command is by the indwelling love of Christ that does the same thing - looks past their sin and baggage and see the Christ in them from eternity to eternity. 

How can we do this?   By dying to self (crucifying MY wants, desires and agendas) and allowing the Christ IN me to love them through me.   Once I understood that I did not have that kind of love in my flesh I was able to not feel guilty for not being able to love the un-loveable.   I have learned to not judge others on their failure to keep the 10 commandments, because I know now that is not my responsibility.   Only GOD is able to judge and I certainly am NOT qualified to do His job. 

All that to say this: If everyone that call themselves "Christian" were to follow this one commandment - to love others as Christ loved us - what would the world see in His church?   They certainly would not see a bunch of hypocrites living selfish, judgmental lives telling all the "lost" people they if they don't get their lives in order that they will spend eternity in hell.   They will instead see Christ loving them through His body (the church) and be drawn to Him as a bride to her bridegroom. 

Who was it that Jesus warned about the dangers of hell?   Was it the drunks, tax collectors and prostitutes?   No.  (He hung out with them!)   It was the 'religious' people of the day - the 'church members', if you will.   All those that thought they were better than everybody else because they 'followed the rules'. (Luke 18:9-14).   If you are out there trying to be 'Christ-like', know that you are spinning your wheels trying to do something God does not require or expect you to do.   All He wants is for you to get out of His way so that He can do what only He can do in and through you.

The Top 10 Things I Learned in 2012

1. If you are the most important person in your life then everyone else in your life will suffer.

2. The difference between telling someone that you love them and showing them that you love them is the difference between night and day.

3. My wife is an amazing person and I really do love her. (You might ask why I just learned this in 2012 – see # 1 & # 2).

4  Jesus was serious in Luke 9:23. It is NOT easy and the “daily” part is not optional. Dying to self is hard, but necessary. Doing it EVERY DAY is harder and even more necessary. Pride is puffed up and hard to swallow – but nailing it to the cross deflates it and makes it more manageable to choke down.

5. I am NOT qualified to judge your sin. That is God’s job and I have no business infringing into His responsibilities. The same goes for you.

6. Words are just like guns and motor vehicles. They are not inherently bad but when misused they can seriously injure others or worse. There are no bad words, just ordinary words used in a negative context to offend. Choose your words wisely and always to edify and build up – not to tear down.

7. I have two really cool kids who are engaged to two very special people who will become, in 2013, my son-in-law and daughter-in-law. I also have two very special grands that I love more than I ever thought I could. Their hugs make the darkest clouds dissipate and disappear.

8. Life is hard, is rarely fair and is filled with pitfalls. I can choose to sit back in my comfort zone and avoid most of the above problems and never reach my potential or I can choose to get out there in the middle of life, fight hard and overcome the unfairness and pitfalls and be more than I am now. What I won’t do is sit back and whine to all that will listen how miserable I am as the world caves in around me in my comfort zone.

9. A 50 year old man can FINALLY earn his bachelor’s degree while operating his own computer repair shop – and do so Magna Cum Laude. I don’t care if you have been out of school for 3 months or 30 years – if you want more get off your butt and go get it.

10. You don’t invite Christ “into your heart” to bind Him securely and force Him to be a spectator to your drama of a life. “Indwelling” should be synonymous with “in control” and if I am getting MY way in everything then that means He is not getting HIS way in anything.

I hope some of these things might help someone else have a revelation in 2013. I have found them all to be true and have changed my perspective on life accordingly.