Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus

Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus

Author: Visit Amazon's Kyle Idleman Page | Language: English | ISBN: 0310331935 | Format: PDF

Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus Description

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"Kyle Idleman knows where we live and where we could live with God's help. His words are, at once, profound and practical. He is committed to helping us move in the right direction. If you need a helping hand in your journey, he'll point you to the right Person." --Max Lucado - Pastor, Oak Hills Church and Author of Fearless

"Jesus never asked us to sit on the sidelines and cheer for his cause. In Idleman's book, Not a Fan, Kyle will challenge you to grow from a fair weather fan to a full-time follower of Christ." --Craig Groeschel - Senior Pastor of LifeChurch.tv and Author of The Christian Atheist

"Not a Fan is truly a cutting edge study that will challenge even the most obedient Christians to re-look at their relationship with Christ. I highly recommend to individuals and churches everywhere." --Mike Huckabee - Former Governor of Arkansas and Author of Do the Right Thing

"Kyle Idleman's Not a Fan is a crucial message for our time. It's a powerful call to commitment and to following Jesus with all our hearts that has challenged me in the best of ways!" --Jud Wilhite - Sr. Pastor Central Christian Church, Las Vegas and Author of Throw it Down

"This book disrupts the status quo and challenges readers to follow Christ with greater devotion." --Mark Batterson - Lead Pastor, National Community Church and Author of Soul Print

"Not A Fan is a book that every Christian should read and regularly re-read. I started to read the manuscript and could not stop until I finished. This is a NOW message for the Church and my hope is that every believer who reads this will become an authentic follower of Christ." --Christine Caine - Founder, The A21 Campaign and Author of Run to Win

About the Author

Kyle Idleman is the Teaching Pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, the fourth largest church in America. He is the author of the award-winning and best-selling book not a fan. He is also the presenter of several video curricula, including not a fan, H2O, and the newly released study gods at war. SPANISH BIO: Kyle Idleman es pastor de ensenanza en la Iglesia Southeast Christian, en Louisville, Kentucky, la quinta iglesia mas grande en Estados Unidos, con una asistencia de alrededor de veinte mil personas todos los fines de semana. Es autor y presentador de la serie de videos H2O, A Journey of Faith y The Easter Experience. Lo invitan con frecuencia a dar conferencias en convenciones regionales y nacionales, y tambien habla en algunas de las iglesias mas influyentes del pais. Kyle y su esposa DesiRae tienen cuatro hijos.

Product Details
Table of Contents
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Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Zondervan; 5.2.2011 edition (June 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310331935
ISBN-13: 978-0310331933
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

If you are looking for a book that preaches a comfortable, easy, complacent version of Christianity, then this isn't the book for you. This book will hit you between the eyes. Kyle Idleman pulls no punches. If you are open to it, this book is like a giant mirror. It will help you take an honest look at yourself and realize what is truly in your heart. Jesus was never interested in drawing a crowd. He was interesting in gaining followers. Not of religion or legalism, but followers of Him. Idleman goes to great lengths to help the reader understand what it means to truly follow Christ. We live in an age where the Gospel and cost of following Christ are often softened and watered down. I think there are many people in American churches who have chosen to "follow Christ" with little or no consideration of the cost. Following Christ is about much more than just a "Get Out of Hell Free" card. It involves sacrifice, dying to self, and surrendering everything to Him. He may not ask us to give up everything, but a true follower is willing to do so if He does ask.

I think we all know someone who is obsessed with a particular celebrity. For example, say someone is obsessed with Britney Spears. A true fan probably is a fan on Facebook, has every CD she has ever made, and possibly even a scrape book of every magazine article ever written about her. If something new comes out, they will go to great lengths to attain it. But Jesus has never been interesting in having a fan club. He wants all of us. If you read this book with an open heart and mind, and are willing to be honest with yourself, this book will help you know if you are really a follower of Christ or if you are merely a fan of His.

Our Bible study group was looking for another book we could go through together. Our study group is comprised of parents of teens and the intent of the group is to find ways to raise more Godly young men and women and become more adept Christian parents. We decided to take a break from overt parental study and go through a book that would develop us each spiritually. Since our church youth pastor highly recommended this book, we each bought one and got started.

When I downloaded the Kindle version of "Not a Fan," I quickly scanned through the Amazon reviews and noted the preponderance of positive reviews. Even the less enthusiastic reviews were positive. One 3-star reviewer's only criticism of the work was that the author did not advocate a more radical approach to Christianity.

I was raised in a very legalistic Christian denomination and now have a finely tuned antenna for calls to legalism. As I read through the book and we discussed it, I understood and resonated to the call for a deeper commitment to Christ. But I became more and more concerned with the underlying message of the book. For about the first 8 chapters or so, I kept hoping that the author was simply calling the Body of Christ to a deeper commitment. But the author finally clarified that when he is talking about his definition of "follower" or "fan" he is really talking about "saved" or "lost." From my reading of his book, the author believes and attempts to make the case that while there may be a large population of people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior, only the most radical and extreme are truly "Christian" and are therefore saved. Throughout the book, he gives examples of people who fit his definition of extreme Christianity, though to me some of the examples were fairly prosaic.

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