Shook Chris - Be the message: taking your faith beyond words to a life of action

Praise for
Be the Message

This book will serve as a wake-up call for people everywhere to use their God-given talents to radically transform the community. Far too often there is a separation between the words that people speak and the actions that support them. We all have a unique calling on our lives, and we cannot reach our true potential until we learn to embrace that calling. I believe that God is raising a generation of believers who will be the hands and feet of Jesus, with a love so profound that the world cannot help but take notice. Be the Message is a guideline to living a Christ-centered life, not just in theory but through an all-consuming lifestyle of serving others. There is no limit to what the body of Christ can do when focused and motivated; our greatest days are ahead of us, if we would only learn to practice what we preach.

M ATTHEW B ARNETT , senior pastor, Angelus Temple, Los Angeles, and cofounder of The Dream Center

Kerry and Chris Shook have an enthusiasm for authentic and active faith that is contagious. In a practical and straightforward style, this book tackles one of the most important theological distinctions of the Christian faiththe incarnationand gives us real direction on how to live. I love it!

C HRIS S EAY , pastor, Ecclesia Church, Houston

So much anxiety and stress in our lives is caused by the disconnect between our words and our walk. Its imperative for leaders to live authentic lives, in which the who and the what are congruent. Kerry and Chris Shook have given us a powerful biblical tool that will help you reduce that gap and truly come alive in your leadership and life.

B RAD L OMENICK , key advisor, former president of Catalyst, and author of The Catalyst Leader

I love how God can take our greatest mess and turn it into our greatest message. Be the Message offers incredible hope and practical encouragement on how to let God work miracles in our lives.

N ELSON S EARCY , lead pastor, The Journey Church, New York City

B OOKS BY K ERRY AND C HRIS S HOOK

One Month to Live

One Month to Love

Be the Message

B E THE M ESSAGE
P UBLISHED BY W ATER B ROOK P RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations marked ( CEV ) are taken from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ( HCSB ) are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ( KJV ) are taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked ( MSG ) are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( NASB ) are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org). Scripture quotations marked ( NKJV ) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( NLT ) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (Phillips) are taken from The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition 1972 by J. B. Phillips. Copyright renewed 1986, 1988 by Vera M. Phillips.

Details in some anecdotes and stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

Hardcover ISBN 978-1-4000-7381-8
eBook ISBN 978-0-307-72961-3

Copyright 2014 by Kerry and Chris Shook

Cover design by Mark D. Ford

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, New York, a Penguin Random House Company.

W ATER B ROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shook, Kerry.

Be the message : taking your faith beyond words to a life of action / Kerry and Chris Shook. First Edition.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references

ISBN 978-1-4000-7381-8 ISBN 978-0-307-72961-3 (electronic) 1. Witness bearing (Christianity) 2. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4520.S455 2014

248.4dc23

2014019700

v3.1

For Woodlands Church

You have been Gods message of grace to our family every single day for the past twenty years.
We love you.

Hudson Taylor once said, All Gods giants have been weak people. My favorite example of a giant is Jacob. Jacob was a deceiver, a manipulator, and even a schemer. He spent much of his life scheming to get his way, making one mess after another. Then hed run from it. This was the pattern of his life: create a mess and run.

Then one night Jacob had an encounter with God. He literally wrestled with God and said, Im not going to let go until you bless me, God. And God said, Okay, Ill bless your life. The Lord grabbed Jacobs thigh and pulled his hip out of socket. He touched him. God touched him at a point of strength and turned it into a weakness. The Bible says that from that point on, Jacobs life was blessed, but he walked with a limp.

Kerry and Chris Shook know that instead of hiding and denying our weaknesses, we need to recognize them and learn from them. We need to learn to share them. We need to learn to glory in our weaknesses. If God is ever going to use us greatly, well walk with a limp the rest of our lives. We can hear about peoples successes all day, and it will have absolutely no benefit to us. But when they start talking to us about their pain, all of a sudden they have our attention. Sharing our handicaps causes others to stop making excuses, to see the possibilities, and to rely on God.

If were going to have a Christlike ministry, that means sometimes other people are going to find healing in the wounds in our lives.

In Be the Message Kerry and Chris have written a powerful guide on how to stop hiding behind our images so we can truly discover and live our authentic life message. This book is not for those who seek to be impressed; its for those who want to have an impact on the lives of others. We can impress people by talking about our successes, but well impact people when we admit our failures and weaknesses and point them to the God who can work a miracle out of our mess.