You can read the Bible, quote the Bible, or even memorize the Bible. But, unless the Author of the Bible lives inside of you, you’ll never truly understand the Bible or live the Bible.
When the world is screaming about things like sexuality & gender but the church remains silent, then a whole generation only hears one worldview. The church must be loving, but it can’t be silent. When the Bible speaks on things, we must teach the next generation what it says.
In the time of death even when we expect it there is always a host of emotions for the family of the person who died, friends, and then the person who has died. But I am so thankful the Lord has made a way through Jesus Christ that this life no matter how short or long we have on the earth, is not the end. This weekend I will celebrate another year in continued life and also celebrate a dear friend who has gone home to be with the Lord. Lately, I have said it a lot, Lord takes me in their place, not because I am rushing to die but because of the impact they left on my heart. God's timing is perfect and every man has an appointed time so I pray my impact on others will be as theirs was on me.
It is not that we keep His commandments first, and that then He loves; but that He loves us, and then we keep His commandments. This is that grace, which is revealed to the humble, but hidden from the proud.
~Augustine
Distorted teaching says if you’ve ever wanted health and wealth if you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give them to you. But if you delight in the Lord, you will want what He wants, the advance of His Kingdom in the world. Accomplishing that mission will become your heart’s desire. If health and wealth will get it done, health and wealth you may have. But if a rugged, bloody cross is His means for you, one will be spiked in the ground just ahead of you. But you will run toward it like Jesus, “who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2)
Every doctrine that is not embedded in
the Cross of Jesus will lead astray.
~Oswald Chambers~
Heavenly wisdom is better than worldly wealth,
and to be preferred before it.
~Matthew Henry~
When we do bad things to people, we are sinning against the Lord. Just like David, we have to make things right with the people we hurt and also with the Lord. There cannot be forgiveness without repentance. Remember that!
The church can do many things after she repents,
but she can do nothing else until she repents.
~Vance Havner~
Sometimes we are more vulnerable after a time of victory in our lives. We are more vulnerable after God has blessed us. So don't be surprised the next time you leave church and get attacked spiritually. Don't be surprised when the Lord has done a great work in your life and then there is a spiritual attack. After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit came upon Him in the form a dove. And then He went immediately into the wilderness, where He was tested by the Devil. After the dove came the Devil. As the Scottish preacher Andrew Bonar once said, "Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle."
All too often, we Christians want "fruit" in our lives so we can be happy, satisfied, and fulfilled. However, this is one of the great misconceptions regarding the fruit of the Spirit: The purpose is not solely for our benefit. Why? Because fruit doesn't exist just for itself, rather it is produced for the enjoyment of others. How is your fruit nourishing others...
We touch the lives of the people we serve.
Service is at the heart of everything we do as believers. We believe that kindness matters. And it does to the people you serve. There are families, children and elderly neighbors in your community who depend on it to help meet the needs they can't meet alone. You have an opportunity to be the difference in their lives. This is true Christianity.
People read more articles than the word of God it self. Self help is like a multitude of counselors but the best counsel is the word.
Don't let today's odds dictate your responsibility, your fight, your obedience and your call.
Stay all in. He hasn't left your side.
Martin Luther said, " I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my guide.
You never want to force your way through a door. But be persistent.
Jesus, His word, and the power of the Holy Spirit is the way, the truth, and the life.
God is looking for people through whom He can do the impossible. What a pity we plan to do only the things that we can do ourselves. ~A.W. Tozer~
Christ, our spiritual Rock, had to be smitten in order for us to partake of the life-giving stream that flows from His cross.
~Henry Gariepy~
The times in which we are living are no time to spiritualize or allegorize, the end times prophecies. Jesus promised He'd return to rapture His church - which entails the resurrection of the dead in Christ of the Church Age, then the translation from earth to Heaven of all living believers. It is presented in the Bible as an imminent (any-moment) event.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up.
Ready or not, Jesus is coming!
“People are not afraid of change, they are afraid of loss.”
Unknown~
Our souls need anchors whether in calm seas or raging seas. Before the storm, through the storm, and after the storm. Our lives can change in any given moment: loss of jobs, loss of health, loss of a loved one, financial loss, loss of peace or loss of home. In the midst of chaos and change or quiet and calm, we need something to anchor us because change is inevitable. In times of crises in our homes, workplaces, churches or country, people look to leaders on how to respond to change and loss. As leaders, we do the same thing because no one leader has the answer. However, we can be anchored leaders in changing seas, even if imperfectly. As I find my groove in this season of disorientation and reorientation, I look to anchors that keep me grounded. As a leader, hope is a habit that I need to cultivate and cut out the weeds that threaten to strangle it at times. Hope is an anchor and hope is a habit.
As we stand rooted in the soil of God’s love, we do not have to fear failure nor does it have to destroy us. If we allow failure in the hands of a loving Savior to do its work in us, it could become our moment of greatest growth. We can grow into humility, maturity, wisdom, and fortitude.
The wisdom of God has no limits if God can use a donkey to speak to balam how much more can he speak through an individual to us we need to add here to wise counsel and listen to the word of God.
“Sell all that you have…” (Luke 18:22). In other words, rid yourself before God of everything that might be considered a possession until you are a mere conscious human being standing before Him, and then give God that. That is where the battle is truly fought— in the realm of your will before God. Are you more devoted to your idea of what Jesus wants than to Jesus Himself? If so, you are likely to hear one of His harsh and unyielding statements that will produce sorrow in you. What Jesus says is difficult— it is only easy when it is heard by those who have His nature in them. Beware of allowing anything to soften the hard words of Jesus Christ.
WHEN WE'RE SICK, WE RUSH TO FIND THE INTERCESSORS. WELL, WHEN YOU HEAR OF SOMEONE ELSE WHO'S SICK, RUSH TO INTERCEDE ON THEIR BEHALF WITH THE SAME URGENCY.
THE TRICK OF THE ENEMY IS TO HAVE YOU ARGUING WITH PEOPLE WHO AREN'T GOING TO CHANGE ONE BIT AFTER THE CONVERSATION IS OVER. WHEN YOU REALIZE THEY DON'T LISTEN, STOP TALKING!
"PRAYER SHAWLS DON'T COVER UP DISOBEDIENCE."DON'T LOOK HOLY, LIVE HOLY!
"TO KEEP A CHILD FROM BEING DESTROYED BY THE STORMS OF LIFE, YOU HAVE TO TEACH THEM EARLY HOW TO ANCHOR THEMSELVES IN GOD."
“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
The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best? Thomas Sowell
The lesser we discern pride in ourselves — the more it reigns in our hearts. William Perkins
A believer's heart is the garden where Christ has planted this sweet flower of His love. Thomas Watson
When we are most lazy — the devil is most busy. Sloth is the cause of sin, and idleness the fruitful mother of wickedness. Andrew Gray
Without Christ, the most stately palace is a Hell. With Christ, the most stinking dungeon is a palace! Andrew Gray
It is true, some wicked men die in apparent peace, and some godly men die in turmoil — but both are mistaken. A few moments will clear up the mistake of both! John Flavel
As believers we should thrive off of helping others and doing it all for the glory of God.
No matter how much you may change or how life may change, God never changes, and His promises never fail. Warren W. Wiersbe
The greatest judgment God can send on His people is letting them have their own way. Warren W. Wiersbe
Spiritual delight in God arises chiefly from His beauty and perfection, not from the blessings He gives us. Jonathan Edwards
“The moment we glority ourselves, since there is room for one glory only in the universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the Most High.” — C.H. Spurgeon
Wise is the man who uses his liberty to avoid the snare of evil. But if you have been captured, know that you can find freedom through Jesus. You don't have to be enslaved to the sin that threatens to destroy you. Christ can free you. Confess your sin and let Him break Satan's…
When the face of God shines in smiles of peace, the laws of God are favors, not offenses; privileges, not burdens; sweet delights, not unpleasing tasks; the liberty, not the prison of believers. —Puritan Nicolas Claget, The Abuse of God’s Grace, 44
‘It may not be too much to claim that this volume is essential reading for Christians who desire true revival in the churches of our own day.’ — Sinclair Ferguson
"Good preaching is textually driven, taking the Bible seriously enough to use the text throughout the message. This kind of preaching exposes biblical truth but also applies it to contemporary hearers." -Jeff Iorg
Ah, Christians, who are too eagle-eyed in discerning other’s hypocrisies, and are too guilty of this sad retaliation, to charge one another with bitter words… let your chief anger & revenge be against the craft & wiles of 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 corruption. —Nicolas Claget (1610-1663)
"A touching gospel tract may be the seed of eternal life. Therefore do not go out without your tracts." -Charles Spurgeon.
A good practice to cultivate is to remind ourselves, wherever we are—in a store, airport, church, prison—that we’re not inherently better than anyone around us. It takes years to form this habit as we pray for humility, remembering what we truly deserve and who we are by grace.
“We refuse to name our sins because we want them to survive.” — Dr. Derek Thomas
God loves a broken heart, not a divided heart. -Thomas Watson - How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don't even have the strength to turn off your TV? -Leonard Ravenhill -
We might look at the people in our lives differently if we realize they are part of God’s plan, a vital part of His work in our lives. Ray Bentley
God works in his elect in two ways: inwardly, by his Spirit; outwardly, by his Word. John Calvin
"Why do you need a voice when you have a verse?" -Jim Elliot.
“Nothing, no outward thing in the world, can work upon the soul but the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God works upon the soul by the means of grace, altering and changing it according to the image of Christ, more and more.” — Richard Sibbes
When there is a tempest without, there may be music within. A bee may sting through the skin - but it cannot sting to the heart; outward afflictions cannot sting to a Christian's heart, where contentment lies. - Thomas Watson
The God of Scripture can only be known by those to whom He makes Himself known -A.W. Pink - Forgetting God seems to be a small sin, but it brings eternal wrath upon the man who lives and dies in it! -C.H.Spurgeon -
I beseech you, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, if you value your salvation and the glory of God, spend your time better. —Puritan Nicolas Claget (1610-1663), The Abuse of God’s Grace, Pg. 36
The merciful man…the merciful man who is involved in the blessed work of the ministry of the Word…reproves evil magistrates and evil ministers. — Thomas Watson “The Spirit must give life to all these things, and then something will be accomplished by hearing, and reading, and praying, and receiving the ordinances. In all of these first look to the Spirit.” — Richard Sibbes
"God has used the faithful efforts of expository preachers of His Word to bring honor to His name and to increase the faith of His saints (1 Cor 2:5) throughout history." - James Sitzinger
Prayer is powerful and God answers every prayer, no matter how we perceive it. This audiobook is a powerful reminder of these realities, "How I Know God Answers Prayer - Rosalind Goforth"
God’s love for us sometimes takes us to deep, dark caves where we grow in intimacy and faith. Where we too will cry out like David, “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path… You are my refuge… Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name…For You shall deal bountifully with me.”—Psalm142 Ray Bentley
The Spirit, being Christ’s deputy, acts as Christ did when He was here, and the with the same affection as Christ did. —Stephen Charnock, Works 4:206
‘It is not safe to be at odds with the Ancient of Days.’ — John Trapp
At whatever time, friendship is commenced between God and the soul, war is waged and maintained against sin. —Nicolas Claget, The Abuse of God’s Grace, 46
Becoming a Christian is not making a new start in life. It is receiving a new life to start with. John Blanchard
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