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God's Ultimate Passion: Unveiling the Purpose Behind Everything

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This book really does unveil the purpose behind everything! Next to the Bible, it is the most important book I've ever read. "Light bulbs" were going off in my spirit left and right as I read it. In fact, it helped me understand the entire Bible, finally enabling me to see the whole forest instead of just the trees! I couldn't put it down! And I can't wait to teach it to my Sunday School class. Everybody needs to read this book. No kidding.

Just finished reading Frank's new book today.

Frank's previous books have been instrumental in shaping the way I view the church, today.

This book further reinforces what God has been doing in my heart for the past year or so.

Frank gives an intense systematic but practical study of the eternal purpose of God. He goes from eternity to eternity in relating the pulsating passion of God's heart.

I did not grow up in the church. However, I spent the first 11 years of my journey with Christ in the institutuinal church structure. I can relate with Frank's concern with the IC and the radical rethinking of the wineskin that must occur within the minds of believers.

Frank relates to us God's eternal need for the establishment of a House composed of living stones and the imperative of recovering the centrality of Christ within our meetings and lives.

This Christian walk Frank admonishes is not a religion of "its" and "things", it is about Him, Christ, the sum of all spirtiual things.

Frank's opening up of "the deep ecclesiology of the body" is intrigiung and something I would like to explore further.

I commend the author on a job well done!

Growing up I remember hearing the church referred to as "The Bride of Christ." I only believed it to be one more way to speak of heavenly things. It was nothing more than a metaphor in a line of many metaphors that were used to talk of God's love for his children. Viola explains in his book that it is more than a metaphor... it is "God's central purpose."

Out of all the books Viola has written, this volume reveals the driving passion behind his life and all of his work. He writes, "in beholding God's central purpose, I found my own purpose. In touching His passion, I found my own passion."

Viola effectively communicates this passion in three parts. The first part is entitled "A Forgotten Woman: The Bride of Christ." Viola begins by pointing his readers to the "hidden romance" between the great lover (God) and his beloved (the church). This story begins with Adam and Eve and continues throughout all of Scripture as the true lover is seen through foreshadowing. Viola beautifully describes in detail this great love story between the lover and the beloved that will one day be the wife of God.

Part II is entitled "An Eternal Quest: The House of God." The chapters within this section look at the divine passion from another perspective. God desires a house that he and his bride may have a family. Viola traces God's quest for a house throughout the Scriptures. The last half of this section gets personal and compares our own journey to being like that of Israel's history.

Like Israel, as members of the Body of Christ... we must make a choice as to which house we will dwell in. Put another way... what kind of house are we going to be for God?
Egypt: the world system which is driven by pleasures and places earthly pursuits above pursuits of our heavenly home and King. Babylon: organized religion which is a mixture of fallen humanity and the divine; characterized best by hypocrisy and described best as the "counterfeit of the New Jerusalem." Babylon can be compared to the institutional church of today. Many of God's people live there and they will only find themselves building a community centered around man and not Christ and his purposes. The Wilderness: this is the place where those who leave the world and organized religion will find themselves. It is a place of transition. "To sift us, to reduce us, and to strip us down to Christ alone." This is a time of "detox." Yet... it is not our home!
The old wineskin must be down away with so that the new can come. The home for which we were made is a land of freedom and one that flows with "milk and honey."

Part III is entitled "A New Species: The Body of Christ & The Family of God." This section speaks of Christians being resident aliens. The Bride of Christ is to remain pure and holy as she awaits her bridegroom. The church is a "new species." Viola traces this language through the New Testament. A language that many Christians have failed to recognize and apply to their lives.

Viola simplifies Body life as an act of gathering around Jesus Christ. This is our purpose. Likewise, it should be our passion. Viola writes, "Recognizing that Jesus Christ is the incarnation of all spiritual things will change your prayer life. It will change your vocabluary and the way you think and talk about spiritual things. And it will ultimately change your practice of the church."

I strongly recommend reading this book before you read any other books by Viola. It is necessary that you hear his heart. His passion and purpose scream loud to the reader in this book. And he calls his readers to recognize this passion is only the result of God's ultimate passion for his Bride. God's love returns back to him!

After you read "God's Ultimate Passion," I recommend reading Viola's set:

Rethinking The Wineskin: The Practice of the New Testament Church
Who is Your Covering?: A Fresh Look at Leadership, Authority, and Accountability
Pagan Christianity: The Origins of Our Modern Church Practices
So You Want to Start a House Church?: First-Century Styled Church Planting For Today
The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament

Get the revised and expanded version of Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices by Frank Viola and George Barna

NOTE: I do not always agree with any author I review. In this book for example, I do not believe God was "lonely" and was not satisified with his Trinitarian unity. Yet, at the same time, I very much appreciate how Viola presents the church in the way in which he does. Christ is the centerpiece of God's plan and purpose. It is the delight of the Lord to share his Son with his creation, particularly with his people... the church. It is accurate do describe this as God's ultimate passion.

In "God's Ultimate Passion", Frank Viola emulates a man pursuing the heart of God responding to His irresistible invitation to spiritual union. This three fold story of God's romance and plan for the Bride of Christ, the dwelling place (house) of God, and the Body of Christ (the Family of God) is solidly based on Biblical teaching.

This is God's own love story. It is the story of a redemptive love, which draws the Bride of Christ into an expression of ultimate passion. The bride captivated with the bridegroom revels in his grace, to accept his love.

Frank writes with an exciting intensity and vision that is persuasive. He moves the reader to a positive response and life changing action "to let Him build us together with others in the way that He has always wanted...So that He might have His House upon this earth."

Viola is a gifted communicator stirring the reader to awaken a new perspective of self, God and the potential lying dormant within, "crying out for expression."

This is a book for "revolutionaries who are reaching for God's highest."

Frank Viola has taken the truth of God's Word and presented it in a striking analogy that leaves the reader with not only a wide-eyed expression and open mouth, but a deeper realization of the concept of true love. Viola presented an age-old truth with a fresh understanding of Christ's passionate love for His bride - the church.

Two thumbs up.

Violas message in this book is: There has been a mystery hidden in God since before time began, and God in His love has chosen to reveal them to us by His Spirit! Thank God that Frank Viola has been faithful as a steward of the mystery to deliver this wonderful news to the saints.

In the first section of the book he discusses God's passion to have a counterpart for His Son, the Lord Jesus. Viola doesn't share in a lull theological tone regarding this subject, but penetrates his thoughts with a fervour. What I sensed was that Jesus isn't into nit-picking and theologizing His bride as much as He is into romancing. He wants to love His bride with a divine, pure love which is also exciting and fulfilling, for us as well as Him!

The second section deals with God's desire for a home, a place to lay His head. Viola insists that the house of God is presently being built, with Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. Clearly, God's house is not one we can build with hands, it is a spiritual house, which is built as we partake of Christ.

The last section, the one which most touched me, is to do with the establishment of God's kingdom on earth. Churches must be very diligent to keep Christ central in all their doings, something which it seems we've been failing to do. As a result of reading this portion I found my thoughts constantly rising to Christ while doing the regular things of life. To make Him central truly is to experience life, for He is eternal life!

Again and again Frank also instructs us that these truths must be treasured by a group of people... discovered WITH one another and not as individuals. After reading this book, I confess that my hunger is great to walk with others while learning God's kingdom now. Let's pursue His passion, and not our own!

In the e-mail to Frank, I said:
I wanted to let you know that I got your book in January and how much it's meant to me. I loved this book!
I don't think I've ever heard a clearer description of God's passion. I was in one of your meetings in Williamsburg in 2004 and heard you talk about "the lady" in Williamsburg, but I didn't 'hear' like I did when I read this book.
I think I'm 'seeing' for the first time some things I've only known about vaguely. I received a clearer understanding of God's 'loneliness,' His 'romantic intention,' and His need for 'a place to stay.' One of the greatest impacts though was seeing that the Bride of Christ is a corporate woman and not individuals living independently (which is where I am right now). When I read the chapter "Exiting the Desert of Waste," I began to say to God, "I don't want to die in the wilderness. Lead me out and into the fullness of your purpose for my life."
This book was life to me. It's changing so many of my thoughts about God and about myself as I relate to Him. Thank you, Frank, for writing this important book.
Nancy Mauldin
Hampton, VA

Excerpt from my email to Frank Viola regarding his new book:

"Since I have your attention personally, I wish to say that your recent work - God's Ultimate Passion is probably the most profound study I have read second only to scripture. The reason I say this is not to stroke your ego, but to emphasize what your "revelation" of the mystery of God's love toward us means to me. I have never fully grasped the fullness and immensity of the Lords love for me and His church body - His bride. The only book in the Bible I could not read with any understanding was the Song of Solomon - now it all seems so clear and marvelous to me! I am still "reeling" from the book as I have just finished it and have started it once again. I can say without apology that I was weeping when I began to realize what you were describing in your book. I am so thankful. This fresh understanding of the Lord's love for His bride is already revolutionizing my understanding of God's Word."

I have never read a book that more perfectly expresses what I sense to be the center of God's desire for our lives. Over and over again the words you chose drew tears of identification from my heart. I sat reading it to my wife and we both could hardly read it through the tears of agreement. We are incredibly thankful to Jesus, both for the truth contained in your book, and that He has raised up someone who has finally been enabled by His Spirit to say what God has planted in so many of our hearts. You have written our heart's theme of life.

This book is one of the best ever written on God's eternal purpose. Viola provided me with a whole new perspective on the mind of God and helped me understand better the Scriptures through which He reveals His mind. You will learn to look at the Bible very differently from what most have been taught, and some people will probably be threatened by this approach. I still strongly advise you to read this book and keep an open mind. If you do, Viola will take you on a journey into God's heart. There, you will learn what His desires are and how you can be part of their fulfillment! You will gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the deeper life, and see why it is so important that Christians commune with each other in unity with Christ as their only head. Viola will show you how the three great images of the Church (the Bride of Christ, the House of God, and the Body of Christ) are reocurring themes in the Bible which reveal the Father's ultimate purpose for His Son, and the Son's ultimate gift to His Father. This book is one of the greatest helps I have yet discovered for helping believers get beyond themselves and live for God's purpose. This is a must-read!