process. Before we do so, it's a very good idea to take a long hard look at our own lives:
When you feel despair closing in, when you feel trapped or imprisoned, remember, you were rescued when you put your faith in Jesus. Don’t ever forget it. You have been rescued as sons and daughters with a powerful Father who loves you and invites you to live in His kingdom.
Jesus came to set us free and take us to His kingdom. He came to shine a Light and expose the kingdom of darkness. He didn’t do it from some distant command post. He came into our battle, into our lives, and shared our joys and sorrows. While on earth, He showed compassion to the woman at the well, He healed another woman who was an outcast. He raised a precious daughter from the dead. He took part in weddings and feasts. He defied the Pharisees and their judgmental cruelty. And finally, He won the decisive battle on the cross, and darkness lost its dominion forever.
Now add social media to all these things our young people are dealing with, and it’s like pouring gasoline on a fire. It amplifies everything. Self-harm among young people is up 334 percent. The suicide rate in the United States has increased by 30 percent since 2000. Suicide has tripled for young girls. This generation needs help. As believers, we should commit to doing anything we can to change this course, call people to Christ, and pray for a mighty spiritual awakening to sweep our nation and beyond.
Love teaches us the “riches of understanding.” We cannot pursue knowledge of God in willful isolation. A complete understanding of the mystery of God comes with being part of a loving community of believers.
If you are attempting to live your life without fellowship, I encourage you to seek out companions who share your faith, who can encourage you, love you, and with whom you can share the mysteries and knowledge of God.
When all of the earth turns against you, all of Heaven turns toward you.
Jesus understands the heart-stabbing pain of betrayal from the most intimate of friends. Maybe you do, too? What hurts the most? There is no way around the pain. How does keeping your eyes on Jesus change how you respond to your betrayers?
The word revolution means “upheaval,” and “change.” It means “turning around.” And what are we returning to? We’re returning to New Testament Christianity, to the faith the Lord gave us, practiced by the early church. To his eternal credit, Pastor Chuck Smith stepped out of his comfort zone, and it was an explosive result. Today we need another spiritual awakening. We need another Jesus Revolution.
Pastor Greg Laurie
Amazingly, the Jesus Movement was not a political revolution, although some called for that (and some are calling for it today). It was not a moral revolution. It was a Jesus Revolution, as Time magazine called it. They recognized it was more than a movement.
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon
"Had I not been helped by the grace of God, I might perhaps have been at this moment dead, buried." — Charles Spurgeon
"Of two evils, choose neither." — Charles Spurgeon
"The present age is so flippant that if a man loves the Savior he is called a fanatic, and if he hates the powers of evil he is named a bigot." — Charles Spurgeon
"We do not give thanks to ourselves, but to God, for we were helpless and he heard our cry." — Charles Spurgeon
"Jesus uses our trials to wean us from the earth and woo us to heaven." —
Charles Spurgeon
One cannot complain that the “gate is narrow” who stands amazed that the gate is 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯.
To be wholly perfect, to be free from every sin, all failings, all infirmities, that is not provided for, not promised in this covenant [of grace]. It is a covenant of mercy and pardon, which supposeth a continuance of sin [in the believer]. —Puritan John Owen, Works 6:341
Our greatest danger is to live upon our activity." -Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
God is good. God loves me. God is faithful. God is in control. God cares for me. God is trustworthy. Therefore I refuse to worry I refuse to worry I refuse to worry I refuse to worry I refuse to worry
Paul saw himself as: “Foremost of sinners” (1 Tim 1:15), “Least of the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:9), and “The very least of all” (Eph 3:8). Only a proper view of yourself will allow you to make much of Christ.
It is when faith in Christ is simple that it is strong...when it comes in its deepest poverty that it is rich -Octavius Winslow
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