Worship is the conscious recognition of God’s sovereign greatness and resplendent, holy beauty, and our ascribing honor, adoration, reverence, and glory to him.
What a tremendous privilege we have each Lord’s Day!
Dustin Benge
“You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” Psalm 3:3
Protection.
Radiance.
Hope.
JohnPiper:
Our great initial need before God is to be justified, to have God Himself declare us not guilty, to have the Lord pronounce us righteous in His sight. At first glance, this appears to be an impossible situation for a man. God, our Judge, is holy by His nature. Man (because of sin) is unholy by nature.
Bob Hoekstra
If you truly know who God is,
it’ll change the way that you live
Jason Powell
Just as we could never secure justification by our own best efforts, so it is true that we can never increase personal sanctification by our own best efforts. Yes, "The just shall live by faith," initially and continually!
Bob Hoekstra
God found Gideon in a hole,
Joseph in a prison,
and Daniel in a lion's den.
The next time you feel unqualified to be used by God, remember this...
He tends to recruit from the pit, not the pedestal.
Jason Robinson
The law was for the condemnation of sinners; the gospel was for the saving of sinners and the ministration of forgiveness.
~C. J. Ellicott~
“She went to gutters and garbage heaps, to places where humanity itself had been thrown away and left to rot, and she set to work patiently and tenderly restoring to people the dignity of being human...Mother Teresa’s days began in prayer, and after meeting God in prayer she went out into the streets of Calcutta to meet Him in the form of people...her primary goal was not to better the lot of the poor, not to alleviate the suffering of the sick, not even to save lives. Rather, her goal was to recover the image of God in people.”
Mother Teresa accomplished her mission one person at a time. Looking into the dirty, smudged faces of the sad, the poor, and the diseased (which is all of us in some form), she gently wiped away the dirt. Then cupping a small face in her hands, and smiling into those eyes, she communicated love and acceptance. And then, I just know, she saw the reflection of God; she restored the image of God in a person who the rest of the world would have thrown away.
Faith wraps itself in the righteousness of Christ.
~Thomas Brooks~
“We can do little things for God: I turn the cake that is frying on the pan, for love of Him; and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before Him who has given me the grace to work; afterward I rise happier than a king.” —
Brother Lawrence
“There is, therefore, something in humility which, strangely enough, exalts the heart.”—
St. Augustine
Hold everything earthly with a loose hand, but grasp eternal things with a death-like grip.
~C. H Spurgeon~
We tend to think that kindness is easy. Soft. Nice. It’s something you learn in kindergarten — how to say “please” and “thank you” and share your Goldfish crackers. Kindness has gotten a rep of being like Glinda the Good Witch, all gentleness and smiles. Someone with a “No, please, after you, I insist” type attitude. It’s easy to think, That’s just not me. I’m not a pushover, I’m not constantly in a good mood, and I’m not always patient and nice. But real kindness is built with grace and grit, and I don’t think one works without the other; they are wisely intertwined. Because life-changing kindness is hard. Sometimes so hard it hurts.
It’s sweat and effort. It actually requires something of you.
That’s kindness that inspires, kindness that makes a difference.
We must build up instead of tearing down. So much of what we know is broken. The way we treat our neighbors. How we speak to one another. And we have to start moving back to a place of love and civility. A place of concern and respect.
Kindness asks us to look each other in the eye and see one another as valuable human beings. This begins at home, in our own networks and communities, with a steadfast belief that we are made better when we believe the best about each other.
Acts of kindness often occur in the absence of witnesses. We also can’t always see the immediate effect. But rest assured, if the conditions are right, kindness moves and shifts like wildfire, and its beauty lies in its potential to spread. To catalyze a series of reactions that can transform how we care for one another.
Real impact happens when we give something of ourselves.
PR.
"A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle, and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution."
C.H. Spurgeon
Don’t be content if your relationship with God is -
“I know God is real”
“I believe that God exists”
Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment isn’t to just “know or believe” but to have heart, mind, and soul completely in LOVE with God!
You are called to be a God-lover
Jason Powell
If a man only knows Christ in the head, but does not trust him with the heart, what is the good of his knowledge? It will rather ruin than save him.
~C.H. Spurgeon~
The fundamental issue isn’t whether pleasure is good or bad; it’s that there is something deep inside of you that pleasure can never fill. From lines of cocaine to the finish lines of marathons, it can all end up being the same pursuit. The destination is always out of reach.
John Onwuchekwa
The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation.
~Charles Spurgeon~
God is the Great Builder. He’s the One who built the universe by speaking it into existence; and then, when sin entered and His creation was separated, He sent His Son into the world so a bridge might be built back to Himself.
Dr. Mark Pitts
The highest point of the Christian experience is to press forward. It is a distinguishing trait in the character of every good man that he grows in grace...
~Gardiner Spring~
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