Knowledge puffs you up with pride, but love builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1, NIV).
I heard the story of four Bible scholars who were arguing over the best translation of the Bible. One said he preferred the King James Version because of its beautiful, eloquent old English. Another said he preferred the American Standard Bible for its literalism and accurate translation from the original text. A third man preferred the newer translations because of their practical application. The fourth scholar listened thoughtfully and then added, “Personally, I prefer my mother’s translation.” When the other men laughed, he explained, “My mother translates every page of the Bible into her daily life and it is the most convincing translation I have ever seen.
Your Network determines Your Net Worth! IN order to Grow you MUST CHANGE SOME THINGS......
God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you"?
~William A. Ward
You don't have to understand everything to be understanding.
"Managers help people to see themselves as they are. Leaders help people to see themselves better than they are." -- Jim Rohn
"One discipline always leads to another discipline." -- Jim Rohn
An affective leader assumes responsidility for the whole team. NO EXSCUSES!
We think in a finite mind but the Holy Spirit is Infinite. I am amazed at how man will rush you not knowing all the facts and not wiling to ask you questions. Everybody knows whats best for you but we do not wrestle with flesh and blood. I have learned a long time ago the best thing to do in a time of sickness, infirmity, or calamity is to wrestle with the Lord in prayer and the word.
When we are faithful to the Lord and what he has called us to do, He will send men and women with discernment to come alongside of us to enhance and help in what we are doing. No man can understand spiritual mysteries
by carnal reasons.
~Thomas Brooks~
The best steps towards restoration is to show unexpected kindness.
It's not easy to turn the other cheek but when you do and you are hit on both sides still give the bruised other side just as the Lord did.
Let's take the counsel of Scripture: "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
Sin denies man the power of God in this life
and the presence of God in the next.
~John Blanchard~
Keep your eyes fixed, head up, hands open and heart ready for all that God is doing.
An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.
Sidney J. Harris
The power of Scripture:
1. It reveals God’s will.
2. It penetrates the heart.
3. It reproves the sinner.
4. It divides truth from error.
5. It makes the world foolish.
6. It equips for every good work.
7. It proclaims salvation in Christ.
Why would we preach anything else?
Let trouble come if it will drive us nearer to God.
D.L. Moody
Avoid a sugar-coated gospel. Seek the gospel that rips up, wounds, and even kills, for that's the gospel that makes you alive again.
Charles Spurgeon
“The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self — all your wishes and precautions — to Christ.” - C.S. Lewis
"Whatever you do, someone will criticize, correct, point out the one bit you missed, or highlight someone who did it earlier and better. Do something anyway." - Jon Tyson
Having an advanced degree in biblical exegesis does not mean one has to say things in the most difficult way. The goal is to display biblical truth, not a diploma. — Bryan Chapell (Christ Centered Preaching pg.107)
"I preached myself, and the scholars came up and praised me. I preached Christ, and the sinners came up and thanked me." — Bernard of Clairvaux
“I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God; first it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.” —Hudson Taylor
"You may think you can live very well without Christ, but you cannot afford to die without him." — Charles Spurgeon "To rejoice in sin is fatal, but to rejoice in God is heavenly." — Charles Spurgeon "We cannot too often turn our thoughts heavenward, for this one of the great cures for worldliness." — Charles Spurgeon "An ounce of obedience is better than a ton of learning." — Charles Spurgeon
"Neither nineteen centuries, nor nineteen thousand centuries, can make the slightest difference in the truth of the gospel." — Charles Spurgeon
"The Bible is a never-failing treasure filled with boundless stores of grace." — Charles Spurgeon
"In life or death, where Jesus is, there will we, his servants, be." — Charles Spurgeon
"Whatever our trials, all is well with us if God is our delight." — Charles Spurgeon
"The gospel is all about Christ from beginning to end." – Charles Spurgeon "A good wife and health are a man's best wealth." — Charles Spurgeon
I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess. Martin Luther
The trembling consciences of the godly have an invincible fortress, for they know that while they abide in Christ they are beyond every danger of condemnation. —John Calvin, Commentary on Romans 8:1
GOD IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR PRIVATE BEHAVIOR THAN YOUR PUBLIC BRAND!
IN THIS END TIME HOUR, WE NEED LESS EMOTIONAL PREACHING AND MORE EFFECTIVE TEACHING.
YOUR PAST IS A POINT OF REFERENCE, NOT A PLACE OF RESIDENCE! YOU DON'T LIVE THERE ANYMORE, NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE WANT TO REVISIT IT!
“The truth of God's law-Word must be applied to all areas of life—from the family, to education, law, politics, business, medicine, science and arts, all for the glory of God and the good of our neighbor.” — Joseph Boot
You’re not too lost for God to find. You’re not too dirty for God to cleanse. You’re not too broken for God to fix. You’re not too hurt for God to heal. You’re not too far gone for God to reach. You’re not too guilty for God to forgive. You’re not too sinful for God to save.
God chose us, not merely that we might escape hell and go to heaven when we die, but that we might serve Him here and now. And what better way is there of serving Him than by the spread of His gospel? —R.B Kuiper (1886-1966), To Be or Not to Be Reformed, Pg. 78
Because God is there, we have hope, strength, and purity. Without Him, we have only darkness. Though God is always there, we sometimes forget. That is when we have a tendency toward sinning. It is also when we begin to despair over our circumstances. But that is the point at which we need a consciousness of God's presence the most. Chuck Smith
If we give ourselves unto the world, and to our lusts, and to self, we are not to expect any benefit by God’s covenant of grace. —John Owen, Works 9:575 To love our neighbor (parent, sibling, friend), we need to forgive, just as God lovingly forgives us. Ray Bentley
Satan is most effective in the church when he comes not as an open enemy, but as a false friend; not when he persecutes the church, but when he joins it; not when he attacks the pulpit, but when he stands in it. John MacArthur
“If we’re not careful as Christians we can fall into the trap of shaving off the edges of the truth so we can be liked.” — Voddie Baucham
Shall we think there is more mercy in ourselves than in God, who plants the affection of mercy in us? - Richard Sibbes
What! At peace with the Father, and at war with His children? It cannot be. —John Flavel
To be united with Christ is the foundation of all happiness, and the richest privileges. -Thomas Boston - We are not truly humble unless we have a sense of our nothingness as compared with God. -Jonathan Edwards -
“God helps those who help themselves” is not a Biblical teaching. This statement is actually anti-Gospel. Self-reliance and self-righteousness, or the attitude of trying harder and doing better, actually gets in the way of the work of God. Jesus saves those who die to themselves: “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’” (Matthew 16:24).
"Prayer does not equip us for greater works—prayer is the greater work."— Oswald Chambers
"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."— Corrie ten Boom
"The will of God will not take you where the grace of God cannot keep you."— Billy Graham
"Trusting God's love is the compass that points to the path of His will."— A.W. Tozer
"Trust the past to God's mercy, the present to God's love, and the future to God's providence."
— St. Augustine
"Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity... it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."— Melody Beattie
The spiritual blessing that comes from trusting in the Lord is likened to a tree that is growing by the continual flow of a river. "For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters." The riverside is the ideal location for developing a flourishing tree. Trusting in the Lord is the only setting in which a flourishing spiritual life can be developed. A tree that is located by the river sends out its roots to take in more and more life-giving water: "which spreads out its roots by the river." The Christian who is hoping in the Lord finds the life his inner man cherishes, and he reaches out for more of that life for which he yearns.
If we desire to live by God's grace, we must be willing to renounce pride and to walk in humility. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." The Lord is opposed to the path of self-sufficiency. When we pridefully assume that we can produce the kind of life God calls us to live, spiritual progress is prevented. Humility involves agreeing with God's pronouncements concerning our inadequacies. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves" (2 Corinthians 3:5a). The person who is willing to walk humbly before the Lord has an accurate understanding of our comprehensive need for the Lord to work in and through our lives. "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5b).
Our great God, the true and living God, is high and lofty. "For thus says the High and Lofty One." He is exalted. "For You, LORD, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods" (Psalm 97:9). He rules far above, and completely over, every valid authority and every false god. Also, eternity is His rightful habitation: "who inhabits eternity." Furthermore, holiness is His essential character: "whose name is Holy." Among all professed powers or spiritual usurpers, none is like our holy Lord. "Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (Exodus 15:11).
Our lofty and holy God graciously revives the hearts of all who walk in humility and lowliness. "Though the LORD is on high, yet He regards the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar" (Psalm 138:6). Those who walk in pride experience quite a different response from the Lord. King Nebuchadnezzar exemplified God's opposition to pride.
Our great God dwells in the heaven of heavens, ruling over all the nations of the world. "The LORD is high above all nations." His glory is even more majestic than the galaxies which He hung throughout the stellar heavens: "His glory above the heavens." There is no one in all the universe who could be likened unto Him. "Who is like the LORD our God?" Nevertheless, though He rightly inhabits the highest realms of existence, He is willing to consider our lowly estate and become involved in the affairs of humanity: "who dwells on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth."
Humanity is incurably religious. There is something in us that wants to worship, but if we can make a god in our image and thus call our own shots, then we are happy. That’s because, for all practical purposes, we have formed a god in our own image. We have put ourselves in the place of the one true God.
The first creature that people substitute for God is themselves. Ultimately, all idolatry comes down to people worshipping themselves. They want to be in control.
There is something wrong in our lives when we need an image or an icon to worship God. We must understand that God forbids this (see Exodus 20:3-5). He doesn’t want us to relate to Him that way.
We can allow something to crowd God out of our hearts. And when we look at the history of the Christian church, we’ll see that it was after people abandoned God as their first love that they turned to idols to take His place.
If we love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, and minds, then nothing else can take God’s place in our lives. We won’t be interested in another god any more than someone who just had a delicious dinner of filet mignon would be attracted to roadkill. Our hunger has been met. We’re satisfied.
Idols can be many things. But essentially an idol is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in our lives. A lot of things can qualify as an idol in our lives. And it is a true but terrifying fact that a person can attend church every week and still be a full-fledged idolater.
We tend to imagine idol worship as lying prostrate before a carved image. And clearly that would be idolatry. But idolatry can take many forms. And no doubt it’s a problem that even believers living in the twenty-first century will face.
Anger passes through different stages: First, it’s an offense. We are offended by an action or words. As you nurse that offense, it brews into bitterness, then judgment. When you have judged people long enough, you demean and scorn them until you are filled with full-blown hatred.
We must have Jesus Christ take residence in our hearts and lives, changing us from the inside out.
When people make a few moral changes, they start to feel better about themselves. They begin to trust in their own morality and the changes they’ve made. And in their smugness, they don’t think they need God. In essence, the devil has them right where he wants them. And in the end, he has a firmer foothold in their lives than he originally had.
Sometimes people say they have become Christians, but in a month or two, they return to their old ways. They claim they “tried” Christianity but it didn’t work for them.
The Bible warns, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 NLT).
Once Satan has taken hold of a life, he does not want to let go. So when he sees people making advances toward Jesus Christ, he will do everything in his power to stop them. And he’s always on duty.
Even if we’re somewhat successful in passing some laws, even if we elect candidates who reflect our values, it still isn’t getting to the heart of the matter. That’s because when people truly find Jesus Christ, He changes their lifestyle.
Our clear mandate, given from the lips of Jesus Himself, is this: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19-20 NLT).
If we allow other things to detract us from this one calling, then we’re missing it. Jesus said, “First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too” (Matthew 23:26 NLT). That is where we must focus our efforts.
All your parts, including the unseen parts of your internal world, reflect the beautiful and gracious complexity of God’s handiwork.
The heart of Jesus, our Shepherd, never gets tired of us, all the parts of us. He continues to draw near to us even when we fail and fall. Keep answer His call to renewal!
We must not lose sight of the basic truth that morality, in itself, will not bring a right relationship with God. Morality never will bring spirituality. But true spirituality always will bring morality.
People will make changes in their lives for many reasons. Sometimes when they face a crisis, they begin to evaluate their priorities and take stock of their lives. They determine what needs to change.
those who make moral changes in their lives but don’t get to the root of their problem, which is the absence of God in their lives. The sins they commit are but symptoms of a deeper problem: the lack of Jesus Christ living inside them.
There are people who try to make changes in their lives, who try to do a spiritual or moral housecleaning. They know that things aren’t the way they ought to be, and they want to get things right.
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