Lisa Harper - Believing Jesus: Are You Willing to Risk Everything? A Journey Through the Book of Acts

Praise for Believing Jesus

Do you find yourself wanting to live a more daring, connected, and belief-fueled life? Then the book of Acts is a great road map for your journey, and Lisa Harper is the ideal tour guide. Lisa is deeply in love with the Giver and illustrates for us with her own life how the supernatural can cause the boundaries of our hearts to expandso that we can lavishly love others the way we are first loved by the Father.

Christine Caine, Founder of The A21 Campaign and Author of Undaunted and Unstoppable

I cant think of anyone I would rather walk through the book of Acts with than Lisa Harper. True to her reputation as one of the most gifted Bible teachers of our generation, she approaches this pivotal portion of Scripture with her unique ability to bring life to the pages with her wit. But dont let that mislead you into thinking shes not a scholarshe certainly is; she just has a way of wrapping the intimidating knowledge in a package that makes you feel like her friend more than her student. Ive had the privilege of sitting under her teaching many, many times, and I have yet to walk away from any of her work without the distinct feeling that I learned as much as I laughed. Theres only one Lisa Harper, thats for sureand this book is the most recent reminder of why she is so beloved.

Angie Smith, Speaker and Author of Chasing God and For Such a Time as This

Lisa Harper is a phenomenal communicator. She has the ability to leave you with more biblical insight and revelation than you came in withwhile laughing all along the way. Dont miss out on this amazing study to not only believe that Jesus CAN, but to truly know that He WILL transform your heart and your life.

Pete Wilson, Senior Pastor at Cross Point Church and Author of What Keeps You Up at Night? and Plan B

2015 Lisa Harper

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ISBN 978-0-7180-1120-8 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Is Available Upon Request

ISBN 978-0-8499-2197-1

15 16 17 18 19 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my brave and beautiful daughter, Melissa Price Harper. You are a tangible reminder of Gods kindness, and I love you with all my heart.

Contents

Ive pitched my tent in the land of hope.

ACTS 2:26 THE MESSAGE

Fear and disillusionment. Courage and commitment. Intense emotion and unbridled passion. The ultimate risk of life in exchange for undeserved grace and a treasured spot in eternity. An example for billions of people who would follow the same road centuries and millennia later. An all-out quest by a growing number of believers to risk everything to spread Jesus Christs message around the world. The book of Acts. Wow.

Have you ever fully dug into this amazing book? I mean really dug in, where your heart beats faster with each revelation and you cant wait to turn the page to see what happens next? All the time youre imagining what it wouldve been like to have been there beside them. Thats what were going to do in this book, and I cannot wait to take the journey with you.

But first, I need to tell you a story about a precious child who is very close to my heart. In fact, the only person closer to my heart is Jesus, and thats where it all connects....

Mama blanc. White mama. Thats what my little girl, Missy, called me the first time we met in Haiti in June 2012. And she didnt say it while batting her eyelashes and wearing a sweet smile. Nope. She was pretty much scowling with suspicion. She was two and a half years old and about nineteen pounds soaking wet, but man was she feisty. When her caregiver went to place her in my arms, I think what she wanted to say was, Dont even think about holding me, you giant pale chick! but she only spoke a few words of English at the time. Even speaking Creole was difficult because her little lungs were filled with fluid and weakened with tuberculosis. I was holding a bowl of rice and beans, though, which surely made her stomach growl. So instead of dissing me on the spot, she eyed me with a mixture of wariness and hunger. Then she did something remarkable; she reached out and wrapped her fist around my little finger with surprising strength and rasped, Halo, mama blanc.

On that sweltering June day in 2012, about fifty kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince, I became a tangible reality to my daughter. She saw and heard and touched me for the first time. She sure as heck didnt trust me at that point though. I was just a large, sweaty, non-Haitian woman. Several visits and suitcases bursting with presents later, Missy had warmed up to me considerably. Id basically become Santa with bigger hips. The adoption process included two long years and five trips to the hottest place on the planet; in fact, there were times I promised Jesus Id be a missionary in Africa if Hed just make a Slurpee materialize in front of me. But by the end of it, Missy liked me a lot. Id become something akin to Barney, only without the obnoxious vocal inflection and purple hue.

But it wasnt until after Missy had come home to live with me in Tennesseeafter wed twirled and wiggled through hours of charades in our quest to communicate (her English was very limited when the adoption was finalized, and my Creole is abysmal); after