A key to everything is surrender - to really come before the Lord and say, 'I will literally stay here as long as you want me to stay' or 'God, I will really go anywhere on the earth.'
Francis Chan
Truth is, I think, if God just gave us our daily bread, many of us would be angry. 'That's all you're going to give me? You're just going to give me enough to sustain me for today? What about tomorrow or next year or 10, 20, 30 years from now? I want to know that I'm set up.' And yet Jesus says just pray for your daily provisions.
Our culture is all about shallow relationships. But that doesn't mean we should stop looking each other in the eye and having deep conversations.
There are periods that we forget that in the pursuit of fruit, that if we just abide in Him, then fruitfulness is a guarantee.
If you really want to experience God, go and make disciples.
When I read the statements of Christ, there seems to be this urgency and intensity. I guess that's what I get out of it when I read the tone of the Scriptures, which is very different from the tone of our culture.
As a culture, we're so worried about what's going to happen to us 30 years from now that we are not taking care of our brothers and sisters who need help today.
I could fill my whole time doing interviews, speaking to crowds, and there's this natural human tendency because of our culture to think that the more people I talk to, the bigger the impact I'll have, and yet Jesus didn't spend His time just speaking to the masses. He spent the bulk of his time with a small group of people.
It's easy to write for God and about God, because what a thrill to remind the church that the Holy Spirit of God is in you. What a rush! What an amazing blessing!
When I don't think biblically, I go nuts. I just go, 'This is crazy.'
Honestly, when I read the Scriptures, I really believe the Lord puts a heart in us when we become believers.
I've never felt a need to really respond to someone else's writing.
I could be wrong about salvation. I could be wrong about a lot of things.
Parents are supposed to instruct their kids. It doesn't mean they necessarily have that gift of teaching.
Churches we build only by our own efforts and not in the strength of the Spirit will quickly collapse when we don't push and prod people along.
Our God listens to us. Our God is a living God. He's not a block of wood you made up that's not going to answer you. My God listens to me. He answers me.
Being around a church culture, even leading a gathering of believers, I've gotten pretty good at predicting what's going to happen in a church service.
If I have a script, I tend to stick to it even if God may be leading me elsewhere in the moment.
There are just certain times I sense the Lord is wanting me to write, and so I write.
I want the joy of knowing that I am doing something with my life, the joy of battle.
I want to help people understand how to study the Scriptures with other people, to give them an overview of Scripture and assume that by understanding the Scriptures better, the Holy Spirit will bring to mind the right stories, the right teachings.
Churchgoers in America are notorious for jumping into movements, even ideas that are hard to listen to. But when they actually have to change their lifestyle and do something about it, it rarely translates into action.
For a person to be truly discipled and growing in their faith, they need more than one person discipling them.
One of my biggest fears - maybe my biggest weakness as a Christian - is that I have a hard time going up to a stranger and talking to them about Jesus.
With my natural communication abilities, I could probably gather a crowd even without the Spirit.
When you read the New Testament, you see the Holy Spirit was supposed to change everything so that this gathering of people who call themselves Christians had this supernatural element about them.
Every year in my life, I trust fewer and fewer people.
Even in my own church I heard the words, 'Francis Chan' more than I heard the words, 'Holy Spirit.'
Due to our consumer mindset, people are prone to jump from church to church, which weakens the church overall.
