Although the world and especially the church may pretend that what has been done to you doesn’t matter, and the people who did it to you don’t owe you anything, Jesus knows differently. He doesn’t forget that we have real enemies who intended real harm. But, He doesn’t leave us to our hatred. He calls us to break bread, and not just bread, but Himself, the Bread of Life, together.
In a world full of harm and hatred, only God’s presence can give us peace that reaches every part of our souls.
Never be comfortable with earthly riches, and do not forsake serving the King who owns them.
Legalism is looking to something besides Jesus Christ in order to be acceptable and clean before God.~Timothy Keller~
Prayer is important, but there is something else as important. When I pray, I am talking to God; when I read the Bible, God talks to me. We need both. D.L. Moody
Only at the foot of the cross does our inflated self-righteous view of ourselves shrink down to proper size. Live at the cross!
Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right. Charles H. Spurgeon
“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods.” - C.S. Lewis
in 1750, #JonathanEdwards was dismissed from the church in North Hampton because he stood for the truth of God revealed in His Word concerning who should and should not partake of The Lord’s Supper. He was resolved to be faithful to Jesus.
SOMETIMES GOD ALLOWS “IT/THEM” TO HURT YOU BAD ENOUGH SO YOU DON'T GO BACK! WHY? BECAUSE THIS TIME, YOUR DELIVERANCE WILL HAVE NO REVOLVING DOORS AND NO REPEAT CYCLES OF DYSFUNCTION!
“Christians walk oftentimes with exceedingly troubled hearts, concerning the thoughts of the Father towards them. They are well persuaded of the Lord Christ and his good-will; the difficulty lies in what is their acceptance with the Father”— John Owen,
"I have to fight from day to day with inbred corruption, coldness, deadness, barrenness, and if it were not for my Lord Jesus Christ my heart would be as dry as the heart of the damned, and have no more life, or light, or goodness in it than hell itself." - Charles Spurgeon
“It is not your business to succeed, but to do right; when you have done so, the rest lies with God.”
-C.S. Lewis
We are not elected for holiness but for holiness. Thomas Watson
"Yet, in the final analysis, there are no great preachers. There's only a great Christ who does startling things when we place ourselves and our preaching in His hands." - Haddon Robinson
"I find I cannot speak or think well enough of my Lord, nor ill enough of myself."
- Charles Spurgeon
We expect him soon to come. It is earth’s highest hope, the church’s most fervent prayer. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! The Daily Spurgeon
Did you know Spurgeon preached for nearly twenty years in London and never once made an altar call? He said, “If you’re troubled about your spiritual life, meet me in my office at seven in the morning.”
Adoration is *the prostration of the soul before him as God, in the acknowledgment of his divine excellencies and the ascription of them unto him*. John Owen
"In your distresses, turn at once to prayer."— Charles Spurgeon
The world changes. Morality changes. Culture changes. The word of God never changes.
Steven Lawson
Better to be taught by suffering than to be taught by sin. -Charles Spurgeon
The keeping and right managing of the heart in every condition is one great business of a Christian’s life. John Flavel
Either Scripture will be the lens through which you view the world, or the world (science, politics, etc.) will be the lens through which you view Scripture. Ultimately one or the other will be your authority. Dustin Benge
There’s nothing the Devil will attack more than your devotional life. Leonard Ravenhill
It's human nature to make rules for our own personal conduct, and then try to apply those same rules to everyone around us. Romans 14:5b: "Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." Remember, just because we might be convinced doesn't mean everyone else must believe exactly the same way we do.
The Scriptures are quite clear. God's work in our lives depends upon His promises to us, not our promises to Him. However, this does not mean that we are forbidden to express our love and devotion to God through promises made to Him.
A small church made up of genuine believers is much more powerful in the hand of God than a large group of unregenerate church members.
We are all weak. All sinners. All needing to be saved by grace.
Whatever a man depends upon, whatever rules his mind, whatever governs his affections, whatever is the chief object of his delight, is his god. ~C.H. Spurgeon~
God loves us and wants to have an intimate relationship with us. Spend time today in fellowship with Him. Ask Him, by His Holy Spirit, to fill your heart to overflowing with knowledge of His great love for you.
“Catastrophic loss … will transform us or destroy us, but it will never leave us the same. It is not true that we become less through loss—unless we allow the loss to make us less, grinding our soul down until there is nothing left. Loss can also make us more...I did not get over my loved ones; rather I absorbed the loss into my life until it became a part of who I am. Sorrow took up permanent residence in my soul and enlarged it. The soul is elastic, like a balloon. It can grow larger through suffering.”- Gerald L. Sittser,
If Enoch could live and walk with God by faith in the midst of his sinful generation, we likewise should be able to follow his example, because the human race is the same and God is the same!
~A.W.Tozer~
You can be sure, the Holy Spirit never enters a man and lets him live like the world.
~A W. Tozer~
Too often I hear the words, "I wish I had some really great Christian friends." I always wonder where and how they spend their time. If you only go to church on Sunday mornings you might never develop any deep friendships. Somehow I don't see Paul ever waiting for the "phone" to ring. He was always actively seeking out Christians wherever he went -- and what he sought after -- he found.
It is presented in the Bible as an imminent (any moment) event. Then comes the seven-year great tribulation; then comes the second coming of Jesus Christ; then comes the 1000-year kingdom on earth; then comes the final judgment of all mankind; then comes eternity - with the Lord in Heaven, or without Him in conscious torment in the Lake of Fire. Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up. Ready or not, Jesus is coming!
Our entire time on earth is to be spent advancing through suffering in thanksgivings in the light of our future hope, our future home.
It isn’t a matter of counting my blessings -
because sooner or later, my list of bummers will
exceed it. It’s a supernatural matter of
reckoning God is good and embodying gratitude.
If it was easy; if it came naturally; if all we needed was a positive attitude; then
thanksgivings would be devoid of any supernatural quality. We wouldn’t need God and His superabundant grace.
“You can grow bitter, or you can grow better.”
C. S. Lewis writes: “In the Incarnation God the Son takes the body and human soul of Jesus, and, through that, the whole environment of Nature, all the creaturely predicament, into His own being..... [L]ocality, limitation, sleep, sweat, footsore weariness, frustration, pain, doubt, and death, are, from before all worlds, known by God from within.”
Opposition to the divine will is the very essence of all sin. ~David Thomas~
Don’t see your struggle as an interruption to life but as preparation for life. No one said the road would be easy or painless. But God will use this mess for something good.
The actions of men form an infallible index of their character. ~Geoffrey Wilson~
Just because our surroundings change, we have to remember that God's Word doesn't.
You are not an accident, you are an appointment from God for such a time as this to bring Him glory.....
How you respond to suffering affects the whole church!
“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” ― John Wesley
"Rich people have small TVs and big libraries, and poor people have small libraries and big TVs." - Zig Ziglar
Many people prefer an indifferent God. They have concluded wrongly that God’s greatest delight is to condemn them. The New Age Movement of the late 20th century taught that people could access this impersonal “force” through channeling, meditation, crystals, and other means. Eastern mysticism—a continuation of ancient Gnosticism—tries to help people get positioned properly in relation to the spiritual dimension. The Bible gives us the true picture: God loves, He cares, and He engages with us, not to condemn us but to save us.
"To realize a dream, you must have a dream to realize." ~ Mark Victor Hansen
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent -Qui-Gon Jinn to Jar Jar Binks"
"Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world." ~ Helen Keller
To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not turned. A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there are some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of the truth which they have received or are charred to a cinder with vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious performances which suit their humor.
Charles Spurgeon
If so, God has spoken to you personally -- did you pay attention to what the Creator of the Universe had to say? Did you then go out and do what He said?
You have to be what God called you to be and do what He called you to do. Then you will seek to serve Him ALL the days of your life until He takes you home.
The most important thing in life is to live your life for something more important than your life. ~William James~
"Progress might seem slow at times, but with His Spirit at work, you will make it all the way home." —Alistair Begg
"God the Father has purposed to give to His Son those whom He has chosen from all eternity." —Alistair Begg
"The miracles of Jesus were never performed merely for effect. They were always performed to fulfill a certain purpose." —Alistair Begg
"The shining of God's face upon His child is a substitute for every loss." -John Evans. "The faith to believe in Jesus must come from Jesus." -Steven Lawson.
"The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities. I exact more from myself, and less from others." -John Wesley.
"A child's relationship with his dad often creates a template of how he will relate to God." -Lee Strobel. "If the father drops the reins, the family coach will soon be in the ditch." -Charles Spurgeon. "Conscience is God's preacher in our bosoms, and it is a most certain rule that the man who will not regard the preacher in his bosom will never regard the preacher in the pulpit." -
Edmund Calamy. "Those who go ahead of God are full of pride and self. Those who lag behind God are full of fear and doubt. Let me go right in step with You." -Mark Jobe. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness." -Corrie ten Boom. "When I study a passage in the Bible, I always try to learn more about God's character, so I can know Him better." -John MacArthur.
"Christ died for those whom the Father gave Him in the everlasting covenant." -Stuart Olyott.
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon "Find immediate peace through believing in Jesus. There is no other way." — Charles Spurgeon
"I wish that I could be like a simple child and literally believe what the Lord says." —
Charles Spurgeon
"Jesus died that sin might die." — Charles Spurgeon "Never do we get too wise, too strong, or too old to need prayer." — Charles Spurgeon
"Exposition alone is not preaching. A minister who only presents the grammatical and historical meaning of God’s Word may be lecturing or discoursing, but he isn’t preaching. The Word must also be applied." - Joel Beeke
“Preaching is not the performance of an hour but the overflow of a life.” -Shaneen Clarke “Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God.” - Justin Holcomb “If I do not see my way through a text, I cannot preach on it, because I know I cannot be simple; and if I cannot be simple, I know I had better not preach at all.” - J.C. Ryle
The sweetest prayers God ever hears are the groans and sighs of those who have no hope in anything but his love. Charles Spurgeon God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart. When you are so weak that you cannot do much more than cry, you coin diamonds with both your eyes. Charles Spurgeon
My faith rests not in what I am or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what he has done, and in what he is doing for me. Charles Spurgeon
God knows your case as thoroughly as if you were the only creature he ever made, or the only saint he ever loved. Approach him and be at peace. Charles Spurgeon You may fear that the Lord has passed you by, but it is not so: he who counts the stars, and calls them by their names, is in no danger of forgetting his own children. Charles Spurgeon
Be of good cheer, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. John Bunyan
Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Spirit, for such things as God has promised. John Bunyan He that is down needs fear no fall. He that is low, he that is humble, ever shall have God to be his guide. John Bunyan
One cannot complain that the “gate is narrow” who stands amazed that the gate is 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯. The Bible defines homosexual desires as “contrary to nature”, not an equal alternative orientation.
To be saved by grace supposeth that God hath taken the salvation of our souls into his own hand; -John Bunyan - We take heart because there is no mountaintop or valley floor where #grace cannot find us. -Jonathan Edwards - Faith In A False Christ Will Take You To Hell
If you are not increasingly grieved by your own sin, you are not growing as a Christian.
In the postmodern world, truth is sacrificed at the altar of "just be kind" "you are not being loving" "you should be tolerant" "all faiths lead to the same God" and "God is love. Doctrine divides" "I love Jesus but I hate religion" and "I just need the Holy Spirit, not the Bible"
A spiritual and saving knowledge of God is the greatest need of every human creature. -
A.W. Pink - Man perished justly; seeing that he chose rather to follow Satan, than God -John Calvin
"Believer, till thou canst drain dry the ocean of omnipotence, till thou canst break into pieces the towering mountains of almighty strength, thou never needest to fear." - Charles Spurgeon
If the rainbow, being looked upon by God, reminds Him of His covenant not to destroy the world, much more are the wounds which Christ bears, both in His hands, feet, & side, remembrancers to Him of the covenant of grace made with repenting & believing sinners. —Stephen Charnock
Contentment makes a man in tune to serve God. - Thomas Watson
“Christian parents don’t need new, shrink-wrapped programs; they need to apply and obey consistently the few simple principles that are clearly set forth for parents in God’s Word.”
John MacArthur
No child is a despicable “product of rape or incest” but God’s unique and wonderful image-bearing creation. - Randy Alcorn
We can live in the world, but not be of the world, because the world is not where His Kingdom is. If we live in His Kingdom, by the power of the Holy Spirit and the strength of His Word, then we can achieve what appears to be impossible. Ray Bentley
When others are shaking and trembling in times of trouble, the contented spirit can say, as David, 'O God my heart is fixed!'
“There are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’” - C.S. Lewis God hath ordained that we should be saved by grace, that He might have the praise and glory of our salvation; -John Bunyan -
Sometimes shepherds go where they themselves would never roam if they were not in pursuit of lost sheep. C.H. Spurgeon
I cannot agree with those who say that they have a “new truth” to teach. The two words seem to me to contradict each other; that which is new is not true. It is the old that is true, for truth is as old as God Himself. —C.H. Spurgeon
Religion stresses holiness over grace. Irreligion stresses freedom over holiness. Christianity is freedom through Grace that leads to holiness.
Both natural and spiritual qualities reach their greatest effectiveness when employed in the service of God and for His glory. Oswald Sanders
The vigor and power and comfort of our spiritual life depend on our mortification of deeds of the flesh. -John Owen -
Parents, You have every right to do surprise checks on your child’s cell phone. - Check their social media. - Check their DMs. - Check their text messages. - Check their search history. They may not like it, but kids need involved parenting more than they need privacy and secrecy.
"The same God who guides the stars in their courses, who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and keeps the stars perpetually burning with their fires—the same God has promised to supply thy strength." - Charles Spurgeon
“Joy is the serious business of heaven.” - C.S. Lewis
God accomplishes his will on earth through the truth; Satan accomplishes his purposes through lies. Wiersbe
See! he puts us among the children; he accepts us as righteous; he takes delight in us as if we were perfectly holy. - Charles Spurgeon
I declare without equivocation that the #church of #Jesus#Christ was never intended to become a religious theatre. -A.W Tozer -
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