Indwelling sin always abides while we are in this world; therefore it is always to be mortified. —John Owen
"There have been failures and mistakes on our part, and on the part of our friends, but never any on God’s part."
Spurgeon
“Happiness is a by-product of an effort to make someone else happy.”-
Gretta Booker Palmer
Six vital certainties:
1. Life is short and uncertain. 2. Death is sure. 3. Judgment is inevitable. 4. Sin is exceeding sinful. 5. Hell is a dreadful reality. 6. Christ alone can save you.
J.C. Ryle
The Bible simply asks us to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, not to bind ourselves over to a set of self-inflicted laws or principles that have no hope of providing righteousness -- which can only be found in Jesus.
As new covenant servants, we proclaim "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ"
(2 Corinthians 4:4). While holding forth this magnificent message, we earnestly pray that God will prepare darkened hearts to embrace the redeeming light of His grace. Each person who responds will experience a miracle more distinct than when light first shined into the darkness of creation.
The enemy of men's souls wants to keep perishing people in spiritual blindness. "But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4a).
Do what the Lord bids you, where he bids you, as he bids you, as long as he bids you, and do it at once.
~C.H. Spurgeon~
If you are put on the shelf, do not rust there, but pray the master to brighten you up so that when He comes to use you again you may be fully fitted for the work which he has in hand for you.
~C. H. Spurgeon~
A major problem within ministries in a church is when people overstep God’s set boundaries for their lives. When they think they can do a better job than somebody else, they cross over into a position that was not intended. They received no call from God to do it. Like Saul, they risk being disqualified. God will eventually remove them unless they repent. This is why some Christians find themselves placed on the shelf.
Raul Ries
Humility means we put others above ourselves, and it’s painful when the Holy Spirit lets us know when we are being cocky and proud because usually, it ends with us being put to the ground.
Matthew Henry wrote, “If we cannot go to the house of the Lord, we may go by faith to the Lord of the house.”
a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:4, 10).
I love the Psalms and this one has always been my feelings about the church. and seeing my family in Christ. Everything from the study, worship, the kids, and youth down to cleaning is a blessing.
God alone is the source of our grace and salvation, not obedience to our own set of regulations.
We can get so consumed by the minutia -- enraged by perceived offenses, caught up in political controversies, or even the fine details of doctrine -- that we lose perspective on the big picture. So what are God's primary concerns? For starters, how about salvation, growing His kingdom, grace, and walking in the Spirit? I am convinced many of the things that irritate us about our Christian brothers and sisters are inconsequential to God. After all, He made each and every one of us exactly as He intended. Psalm 139:13: "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."
We who serve the Lord under His new covenant of grace live with a heavenly treasure in earthen vessels. We are "earthen vessels." Though we are born again through faith in Christ, we still have the same physical body that we had in Adam. "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent [that is, our natural human body], is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands [that is, our glorified, heavenly bodies], eternal in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1).
It could be easy to stamp our feet and demand that it ought not to be so. We want to say, God should have done this! God should have done that! God should have done better! But then, where would that get us? As Job learned, we are not God. And we cannot undo what God has already done. This brand of humility is exemplified quite beautifully in the words of a survivor of Auschwitz:
Nothing is more fatal to us than to refuse to give ourselves in obedience to God.
~John Calvin~
The Spirit of God departed from Saul––sad. For the rest of his life, God would not speak to him anymore––all because he did not obey the voice of the Lord. It is foolish to disobey God. We miss out on all His blessings.
1 Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.
You never know who God might bring your way to challenge some of your prejudices and fears. Jesus showed us what to do. Welcome, love, and minister to those in need in His Name.
“Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.” -C.S. Lewis
If you add anything to the word “justice” except to put “biblical” in front of it, I’m going to disregard it.
Welcome, Jesus into the midst of this turbulent time. Don’t let the storm turn you inward. Let it turn you upward.
Max Lucado
Jesus is the believers:
Life (Col 3:4)
Advocate (1 Jn 2:1)
Sacrifice (Heb 9:26)
Mediator (1 Tim 2:5)
Propitiation (1 Jn 2:2)
Redemption (Eph 1:7)
Justification (Rom 4:25)
Reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18-19)
Dustin Benge
I submit to you that the highest source of truth we can possibly have is the Word of God. —
R.C. Sproul
“Thirst was made for water; inquiry for truth.” -C.S. Lewis
The world cannot give us joy, and the world cannot take it away.
Steven Lawson
Prayer is breathing in the very air of Heaven, and praise is breathing it out again.
Charles Spurgeon
"To us, worry is exhausting, but God is all-sufficient.
Charles Spurgeon
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