QUOTES

Everlasting life is not some "packaged blessing" that comes to us separated from Jesus. The life God has for us is found through a dependent relationship with a person, Jesus. If we have Jesus in our lives, we have the life that is found in Him. "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

When fear comes knocking at your door let faith answer it.

Anything above God is idolatry.

~Richard Sibbes~

God loves you and everyone else has a plan for your life, right? But the only plan that matters is the plan made for you by the One who formed you - the One who loves you, knows you and has set you apart to be His own.

One of the greatest problems with our society today is the lack of involvement by godly men. It seems often times men tend to come along in silent support rather than in full participation from the beginning.

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” - (1 Corinthians 3:16).

I’m not _____________ enough. You can fill that blank in with smart, talented, gifted, spiritual, or any number of positive attributes. But the root source of each one of those lies is “I’m not good enough.” It is one of the enemy’s favorite weapons and he uses it to keep God’s children in bondage to feelings of inferiority, insecurity, and inadequacy. The bottom line is, the enemy wants you to believe that you are “not enough.” Period. But you are enough. You are enough and have been equipped by God and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do everything that God has called you to do Consider this: Jacob was a liar. Moses was a stutterer. Gideon was a coward. David was an adulterer. Rahab was a prostitute. Esther was an orphan. Balaam’s donkey was…well, a donkey. And yet God used each one of them to impact His kingdom. God doesn’t call us because we are particularly gifted or talented. He uses us because we are obedient and dependent on Him. He doesn’t call the qualified – He qualifies the called.

Parenting is a high calling, and one that requires a lot of leaning on God, unwavering determination and unending perseverance. Don't give up!

front of him, and smashed into a tree. The jurist jumped from his car, and tried to rescue the man from his burning car. Instead, the uninjured drunk ran away. Police caught and arrested the drunk driver. Ironically, the man was brought before the very judge who had saved him. In one venue, the judge had come to save him, but in another, he was the man’s judge. In His incarnation in the earth, Jesus came to save the world, but in eternity, He sits as the world’s judge.

Psalm 122:7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.

Some people's homes are war zones. Families in conflict abound in our society. So much unhappiness comes from people no longer knowing how to share and give. Too many people are looking out for themselves, and they aren't willing to look out for each other. Mothers fight with daughters, sons with fathers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, each feeding the beast of hurt and discord. We are lost without a peacemaker, one who knows our hearts and can pave the way to reconciliation.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: "You are what you are and you are where you are because of what has gone into your mind. You change what you are and you change where you are by changing what goes into your mind."~ Zig Ziglar

The great composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) lived much of his life in fear of deafness. He was concerned because he felt the sense of hearing was essential to creating music of lasting value.

When Beethoven discovered that the thing he feared most was coming rapidly upon him, he was almost frantic with anxiety. He consulted doctors and tried every possible remedy. But the deafness increased until at last all hearing was gone.

Beethoven finally found the strength he needed to go on despite his great loss. To everyone’s amazement, he wrote some of his grandest music after he became totally deaf. With all distractions shut out, melodies flooded in on him as fast as his pen could write them down. His deafness became a great asset.

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

There is nothing so costly as ignorance.

~Horace Mann~

If we are to grow in grace, we must live by faith.

Do you lead with your dream? Is your dream so clear that you can feel it, smell it, see it, and describe it as if it were a life you've lived before? Furthermore, have you crafted a compelling vision that depicts your dream and do you use this vision to create desire and ignite motivation?

“Never let your memories be greater than your dreams.” — Doug Ivester

“All of our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them.” — Walt Disney

“Live out of your imagination, not your history.” — Stephen Covey

“Nothing happens unless first a dream.” — Carl Sandburg

“Hitch your wagon to a star.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Bible redirects my will, cleanses my emotions, enlightens my mind and quickens my total being.

~E. Stanley Jones~

Don't be too shy to ask for a discount. The worst that can be said is "no"

One sure-fire way to consistently appreciate your spouse is to remember what a blessing they are from God. Of course, neither of you is perfect, but God has entrusted you to your spouse, and your spouse to you.

Why? Why are you together? Why are you in your husband or wife's life? What is the purpose of marriage?

By asking "why" questions and finding biblical answers, we can more easily remember the magnitude of the blessing a spouse is.

Cherish one another daily, and love each other

People love leadership and control until it requires sacrifice.

Motivation is that which makes you do what you do. Have you thought about it lately? The student may work for good grades so his chosen college will accept him. Many adults labor just to exist, but others are prompted by fame, power, or money.

What motivates you?

“He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God: himself.” —C.S. Lewis

If we do not study, pray and spend time with God, how are we going to be ready for God to use us? We will not be ready to witness to others when the opportunities come. God uses people who have the knowledge of Him. Besides, we are supposed to be ready to give anyone an answer to their questions about Christ:

God doesn’t promise to keep us out of all trouble. But He does promise to be with us in the midst of it. It’s a great thing to know that when the Lord lets His children go through a fiery trial, He always keeps an eye on them.

As you walk the narrow Jesus-led path, you can often find times filled with joy and peace. You can rest in His promises. You can know that you will ultimately have total victory. But what about the days when you feel you can’t go on, when it feels like you’ve been pushing that stone with all you have to give, and there is no more? There has always been opposition to the truth of God’s word. Light is never welcomed by darkness. In those times, you must persevere. This is not the time to conform to the culture. It is, however, time to hold firm to the word of God.

God's glory at any cost, even my own. Too often "our glory" gets in the way. Self intrudes. It is God's glory that matters!

~A. W. Tozer~

The Mark of the Beast is a child’s play in today's tech-savvy world. There are a plethora of ways it could be fulfilled. The apostle John saw it coming two centuries ago.

The grass is not always greener on the other side even when it looks like it. Looks are deceiving.

When tragedy strikes we become "blinded," not necessarily literally but figuratively. We realize that we are not in control and have that feeling of helplessness.

To me, the Bible is not God, but it is God’s voice,

and I do not hear it without awe.

~Charles Spurgeon~

When it looks like things are out of control, behind the scenes there is a God who hasn’t surrendered His authority.

~A. W. Tozer~

Not everyone is going to like you, love you or be pleased with you. What matters most in your life is pleasing God.

There is no magic formula, no secret words or actions to make God fill us with His Spirit. God is sovereign and fills us according to His sovereign will. At times, some Christians seem to have forgotten this basic truth, assuming that if they pray in a certain way or worship in a certain way then God is somehow compelled to fill them with the Spirit. This neglect of God’s sovereignty isn’t true or helpful.

Be killing sin or it will be killing you.

~John Owens~

We think we know what is best for us despite the Lord's instruction to the contrary, so He lets us do things our own way. Funny that thousands of years later we still haven't learned this basic lesson of "Our heavenly Father always knows best."

Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, the attention will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window.

~A.W. Tozer~

It’s easy for us in our day to get so preoccupied with our own private experience of God that we neglect the essential corporate dimension.

We cannot hold a torch to another's path without brightening our own.

~Ben Sweetland~

To trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust him

in the dark– that is faith.

~C. H. Spurgeon~

As Christians, everyday should be our Passover. God has rescued us from death by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to defeat sin. If you are in Christ, then you are free! We need to remember the deliverance that Jesus Christ brought against the bondage of sin and death. Everyday, we should reflect on His goodness. Everyday, we should praise and worship the living God who made eternal life with Him possible. We don't have to live in bondage or condemnation. We are made alive and new.

As we walk by faith, God's grace is imparted into our lives, bringing us many blessings in our Lord. We have seen that among these heavenly delights are assurance of salvation and security of salvation. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life…who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 John 5:13 and 1 Peter 1:5). Related to these delights is protection from the devil through faith.

Godly Christian living involves spiritual gravity and spiritual attentiveness. "Be sober, be vigilant." These necessary traits that the Lord wants to develop in us do not nullify the reality of joy and peace in the Lord.

G. Campbell Morgan 1863 - 1945

"The Devil's methods of opposition are those of alliance and antagonism, and the only serious one is the first. Let us beware of it. Do not let us imagine that we can take into our fellowship and enlist under one banner men who simply affirm truth about Jesus, unless in their own lives there is an absolute loyalty to the Lord Christ. Antagonism is the creation of force for the kingdom of God. Put a man in prison for Christ's sake, and the earthquake will surely follow, and the work will spread."

Do you remember when you first gave your life to Jesus Christ? Remember how it felt to release all of that guilt and pain over to Him? Remember how "on fire" you felt? Nothing could stop you from telling others about Jesus Christ and what He did for you. We need to re-ignite that passion! Time is short...

When you get to heaven, God is not going to ask you why you weren't more like Billy Graham, Chuck Smith, or your best friend (who might have a knack for evangelism or some other talent). Instead He's going to ask you -- "Why aren't you more like the man I made you to be?" When I first came to know Jesus Christ as Lord in Calvary Chapel West Covina, I wanted to be like all the men of God the Lord had put into my life at the time. As a new believer I thought if if I said it's heavy and it really blows my mind like Raul or be smooth like Jim, academic like Loyd or Daryl Skinner, surly God would honor it. But then as I grew up I saw they where them selves and no two was the same. God can't use a copy, He has to have the real you... Some men like to stand in one place and that drives me nuts. I like to move and it may not be there thing but the message is the same.

Paul and Barnabas were seed planters and they knew this was their role within the body. So when rejected, they just shook the dust from their sandals and moved on -- then they "were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." Notice the sequence: it was only after they let go that they were able to experience joy and fullness. Joy because they were finished and fullness because they had completed their task. A good story to read is Johnny Apple Seed. One more note when planting you always move forward never backwards.

Maybe your past isn’t much to brag about. Maybe you’ve seen raw evil—and now you have to make a choice. Do you rise above the past and make a difference? Or do you remain controlled by the past and make excuses? Healthy bodies. Sharp minds. But retired dreams. Back and forth they rock in the chair of regret. Lean closely and you’ll hear them. If only I’d been born somewhere else. . . If only I’d been treated fairly. . . If only I’d had more opportunities. . .if only. . . Put down the scrapbook of your life and pick up the Bible. Read Jesus’ words in John 3:6: “Human life comes from human parents but spiritual life comes from the Spirit.” God has not left you adrift on a sea of heredity. You have a choice in the path you take. Choose well! Although our adversary is relentless and imposing, God's gracious remedy is simple and effective. "Resist him." We are to oppose him. We are to stand against him.

We effectively stand against him by being "steadfast in the faith." We simply continue trusting in the great truths of God's word, which declare Christ as victor over our foe. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil…Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it [the cross]" (1 John 3:8 and Colossians 2:15)

Bob Hoekstra

Impossibility is not a deal breaker but a deal maker. It is not time to give up but time to look up....!

Faith is easier when you can't see it. We tend to freak out when impossibilities become evident when we do not have control when we can not do it in our own power and will.

James Merritt said, "The most endangered species in America is not the Spotted Owl or the Snail Darter, but the responsible Father."

As Christians, we should be the first to seek peace with others, as we share the Gospel in the love of Christ. Few things more adorn and beautify a Christian profession than exercising and manifesting the spirit of peace.

~A. W. Pink~

Love your wife with your actions and not just your words.

"..let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." - 1 John 3:17

Worries is tomorrow's load being carried out with today's strengths !

Change does not happen if CHANGE does not happen!

We would be much better off as a people if we would let God do the leading and convincing instead of us trying to inflict our ways on others. Jesus said not my will but thy will be done.

God never forgives sin without at the same time changing

the nature of the sinner.

~lain H. Murray~

When you speak the words of God without fear and live faithfully for Him, you encourage others to do the same. Don’t be afraid or intimated into silence. Look for opportunities every day to tell others how the Lord has changed your life.

You can’t give out more than you take in. You need to live in communion with the Lord. You need to dwell in the secret place of the Most High.

Greg Laurie

Your marriage covenant is important to God, not so he can hold it over your heads but so he can express his vast love for you, multiply his joy in you, and amplify his own glory through you.

Men, it is our responsibility as fathers to be the main teachers of the Word of God to our children and wives. Not the pastor of our churches. Not the Sunday school teachers. Not the youth pastors. It must be us.

Endless punishment is the consequence for all those who choose to reject or ignore God’s plan for the remediation of sin and the gift of eternal life. Our responsibility is to make known the choices – even if some people don’t like the options.

The Bible reveals the Father’s overall plan for the world and provides general guidelines for life. But how can we know His specific plans for us? Listening to God is essential to walking with God.

~Charles Stanley~

The master key is to clear the path between others and us; to offer the key to freedom by forgiving others their trespasses, just as we are forgiven.

Ray Bently

Because an acquaintance Shows up does not mean they Will lay down their life

For you!

True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie.

~A.W. Tozer~

Cling to the Cross. No matter what is going on in your life today, the answer is “cling to the Cross”. Jesus came and paid for you. Personally. So no matter what you are enduring, know that Jesus is with you, for you, He loves you, He will never leave you, and the Cross is the proof of His unfailing love.

Tolerating a religious spirit produces a double injury: it blocks the flow of God’s love to others and from us.

We cannot postpone showing love and mercy to the lost, waiting until someone changes. That’s not what Jesus does. He’s the good Shepherd who, after making sure the flock is safe, goes out and pursues the lost one with love and kindness.

Whatever God is, Christ is. Every likeness of God, the very Godhead of Godhead, the very Deity of Deity, is in Christ Jesus.

~C.H. Spurgeon~

Don’t listen to the naysayers. Don’t listen to anything but His voice. We are blind to the future, but Jesus isn’t and His plans are good. Trust!

Only by being both deity and humanity could Jesus Christ bridge the gap between where God is.

~David Jeremiah~

God the Father was a divine witness of His Son. Jesus was a Man accredited by God. Jesus said to the Pharisees who opposed him: “I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me” (John 8:18). Jesus was accredited by God, not man.

Depend on it, my hearer, you never will go to heaven unless you are prepared to worship Jesus Christ as God.

~C.H. Spurgeon~

Assurance of salvation pertains to the certainty that we actually are saved. Another related work of God's grace is the security of salvation through faith. Security of salvation pertains to the certainty that we will remain saved.

"There is nothing that can give us a more genuine feeling of compassion than to put ourselves in the place of those who are in distress."

-John Calvin.

"A man has a right to his opinion, but that does not make his opinion right." -

Leonard Ravenhill.

Be a better sermon listener:

1. Pray for the Spirit's illumination. 2. Expect to hear from God. 3. Know the context of the passage. 4. Take good notes. 5. Turn off distractions. 6. Read the Bible regularly. 7. Resolve to obey its words.

"You will never catch the devil asleep; let not the devil catch you asleep.

Watch, and be sober, that you may always be up to do your duty."

— Charles Spurgeon

"Holiness is the saved sinner's response of gratitude for grace received."

-James Packer.

Men grow tired of hearing the Word only after they have grown tired of putting it into practice!

—John Owen

There is no limit to God.

Our God is: Infinite in thoughts (Ps 40:5). Infinite in righteousness (Ps 71:15). Infinite in grace (Ps 84:11). Infinite in faithfulness (Ps 89:2). Infinite in forgiveness (Ps 103:12). Infinite in understanding (Ps 147:5).

He who has learned to pray— has learned the greatest secret to a Holy and happy life.

— William Law

"Let us make everything a matter of prayer...There is nothing too little to pray about...Even in the most trifling matters, I give myself to prayer."

-George Muller.

The Holy Spirit:

Does not add to Scripture. Does not subtract from Scripture. Does not contradict Scripture.

The Spirit speaks THROUGH Scripture.

"The breath in our nostrils is God's gift moment by moment."

— Charles Spurgeon

"Those who seek to be justified by the Law are taking the mirror off the wall and trying to wash with it." -

Ray Comfort.